Visual display method

ABSTRACT

A visual display method involves storing, in multiple portable display units, visual information to individually be displayed by each of the multiple portable display units located within a venue in response to instructions broadcast wirelessly for receipt by at least some of the multiple portable display units within the venue; establishing, for each portable display unit within the venue, a first ad hoc address based upon each portable display unit&#39;s physical location; and wirelessly broadcasting instructions for receipt by the portable display units instructing at least some or the multiple portable display units to display a specific portion of the visual information associated with their respective first ad hoc addresses, so that each of the multiple portable display units will display their specific portions of the visual information associated with their ad hoc addresses as specified by the broadcast instructions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.. No.15/347,016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/299,129, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,519,278, and is related to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/299,113, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,202,397, and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/299,105, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,074,742, allof which are incorporated herein by reference herein, in their entirety,as if fully set forth herein.

FIELD

The present application relates to visual displays and, moreparticularly, to visual display methods involving multiple discretedisplay devices.

BACKGROUND

During the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, at the General Electricpavilion “Carousel of Progress”, they simulated the dream home of thefuture in an exhibit called, “The glories of today”. The dream homefeatured: a glass-enclosed and electrically heated patio; a central“weather-tron” cooling system (a predecessor to today's airconditioning); a kitchen that all but runs itself, with a dishwashingmachine; a washer/dryer that actually folds up the clothes; a centralhome vacuum system; a TV with a hand control unit and the ability recordvideo built in; and special broadcast where people would be learningGreek and Latin over the air (a predecessor to today's internet).

However, not only did the home have special appliances and features butthey envisioned special lighting and display systems built right intothe walls and windows that they simulated including: translucent wallsthat changed colors to set moods, entire walls that would evenly lightup the room, and high tech windows that would show beautiful outdoorscenery, even if it was raining outside.

While many of the speculated special appliances and features are now inour modern homes (excluding the washer/dryer that also folds clothes),the passage of time has failed to achieve the house of the futurerelated to lightweight, thin, uniform, wall lighting and large, thin,affordable, scenic windows.

Instead, over 50 years later, what the passage of time has brought us isnot thin, light, affordable lighting, but instead, large printbillboards that are being replaced by even larger and complicatedgraphical LED displays.

As a result, large screen graphical displays are becoming increasingpopular. As they become increasingly popular, in order to standout,advertisers want bigger and bigger graphical displays. However, thosedisplays are made up of individual frames so that, as the scaleincreases so do the number of frames and the time required to calibratethe frames. In addition, those frames must be serviced from either thefront or the back and, given the size, often require a huge bucket truckto do so. In order to decrease calibration time, the frame sizes havebeen increased; however, this increases the cost of replacement partsand also requires additional wiring, adding significant weight. Anotherbig factor to the use of larger frames becomes display thickness. Largerframes require bigger power supplies mounted directly behind them andthese bigger power supplies not only force the display thickness to bebigger but also require additional space for cooling and maintenance,and in some cases forced air-cooling or air conditioning as well.

Simply scaling current sign technology makes the sign so heavy that ittypically cannot be supported without either building an extensiveexternal support structure or significantly affecting the quality of thedisplay.

Therefore, there continues to be a need for lighting and graphicaldisplays that do not suffer from one or more of: being limited in lengthor width, added display thickness, requiring extensive and/or extrawiring to meet power needs, requiring heat sinks or air conditioning todissipate excess heat when the displays run at peak power, requiringservice from either the front or the back, requiring complex lensing ortedious calibration in order to provide a uniform display, havingexcessive weight that requires adding extra support, being subject tolocalized effects of expansion and contraction and/or displaydensity/resolution issues.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the claimed invention involves visual display methodinvolving storing, in multiple portable display units, visualinformation to individually be displayed by each of the multipleportable display units located within a venue in response toinstructions broadcast wirelessly for receipt by at least some of themultiple portable display units within the venue; establishing, for eachportable display unit within the venue, a first ad hoc address basedupon each portable display unit's physical location; and wirelesslybroadcasting instructions for receipt by the portable display unitsinstructing at least some or the multiple portable display units todisplay a specific portion of the visual information associated withtheir respective first ad hoc addresses, so that each of the multipleportable display units will display their specific portions of thevisual information associated with their ad hoc addresses as specifiedby the broadcast instructions.

These and other aspects described herein present in the claims result infeatures and/or can provide advantages over current technology.

The aspects, advantages and features described herein are a few of themany aspects, advantages and features available from representativeembodiments and are presented only to assist in understanding theinvention. It should be understood that they are not to be consideredlimitations on the invention as defined by the claims, or limitations onequivalents to the claims. For instance, some of these aspects,advantages or features are mutually exclusive or contradictory, in thatthey cannot be simultaneously present in a single embodiment. Similarly,some aspects, advantages are applicable to one aspect of the invention,and inapplicable to others. Thus, the elaborated aspects, features andadvantages should not be considered dispositive in determiningequivalence. Additional aspects, features and advantages of theinvention will become apparent in the following description, from thedrawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of a front perspective view of oneexample implementation;

FIGS. 2A-2B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side view,respectively, of the lighting assembly of FIG. 1, now mounted on astructure;

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side viewrespectively of the structure of FIG. 2 onto which additional lightingassemblies from FIG. 1 have been mounted;

FIGS. 4A-4B respectively illustrate, in simplified form, side views ofadjacent ends of two printed circuit boards which would be installed,for example, in a tube as described herein, and FIG. 4C illustrates, insimplified form, a top view of the boards of FIG. 4B;

FIGS. 5A-5B respectively illustrate, in simplified side view, twoprinted circuit boards that are similar to the circuit boards 110 a, 110b of FIG. 4 but differ in that they have one or more optional physicalconnection receptacles at each end;

FIG. 5C illustrates, in simplified form, a front view of the boards ofFIGS. 5A and 5B;

FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate, in simplified form, a side view, and FIG. 6Cillustrates a front view, of boards which are similar to the boards ofFIGS. 5A-5C;

FIGS. 7A-7B are a front and side view, respectively, of a set ofalternative variant lighting assembly implementations similar to thelighting assembly of FIGS. 2A and 2B;

FIG. 8 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of yet anotheralternative lighting assembly variant similar to the variant of FIGS. 7Aand 7B except that the tube of FIG. 8 has a front face that is curvedand optionally includes at least two corresponding pairs of boardsupports;

FIGS. 9A-9B are a front and side view, respectively, of still anotheralternative variant lighting assembly;

FIG. 10 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of the lightingassembly of FIGS. 9A and 9B mounted to an underlying structure;

FIG. 11 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of an additionalvariant implementation;

FIGS. 12A-12B illustrate, in simplified form, are a front and side view,respectively, of yet an additional variant implementation;

FIGS. 13A-13B illustrate, in simplified form, side views of two furtheralternative variant implementations;

FIG. 14 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of an alternativevariant to the variant of FIG. 12B;

FIGS. 15A-15B illustrate, in simplified form, front and side views,respectively, of a further alternative variant;

FIGS. 16A-16B illustrate, in simplified form, a top and side view,respectively, of still another alternative implementation variant;

FIGS. 17A-17B illustrate, in simplified form, front and side views,respectively, of an additional alternative implementation variant;

FIG. 18 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of the variant ofFIG. 17B;

FIG. 19A illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of anotheralternative variant implementation;

FIG. 19B illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of an alternativevariant, and FIG. 19C illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of asecond alternative variant;

FIG. 20 illustrates, in simplified form how undercuts and attachmentextensions allow multiple lighting assemblies to be interconnected toaccommodate an undulating underlying structure;

FIGS. 21A-21B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side view,respectively, of a simple manner for sealing the ends of a tube from theelements;

FIGS. 22A-22D respectively illustrate, in simplified form, both a frontand side view, respectively, of four different variant plugs that can beused as an alternative variant seal;

FIGS. 22E-22F respectively illustrate, in simplified form, a front andside view of the lighting assembly of FIG. 9 with one of the plugsinserted into each of the ends of the tube;

FIGS. 22G-22H respectively illustrate, in simplified form, a front andside view of the lighting assembly of FIG. 9 with the variant plug ofFIG. 22C inserted into one end of the tube and the plug variant of FIG.22D inserted into the other end of the tube;

FIGS. 23A-23D respectively illustrate, in simplified form, a side,front, back, and schematic representation of a series of printed circuitboards 2310 suitable for use as base units as described herein;

FIGS. 24A-24C illustrate an alternative variant to that shown in FIGS.23B-23D;

FIGS. 25A-25C illustrate, in simplified form, a typical prior artfluorescent lighting configuration used to illuminate inventory in atypical store aisle;

FIGS. 26A-26C illustrate, in simplified form, a lighting assemblyemploying the teachings herein for illuminating the shelves of thetypical store aisle of FIG. 25A;

FIG. 27A-27D illustrate, in simplified form, end views of a fewdifferent configuration lighting fixtures that can be created using theteachings herein;

FIG. 28 illustrates, in simplified form, an example use for the lightingassembly of FIG. 27D;

FIGS. 29A-29B illustrates, in simplified form, a representative examplemulti-curved vertical structure formed using multiple tubes constructedaccording to the teachings herein;

FIG. 30A illustrates, in simplified form, another example applicationemploying the teachings herein;

FIGS. 30B-30C respectively illustrate, in greater detail, aspects of thesignage or display of FIG. 30A from the front and one side;

FIGS. 31A-31C illustrate, in simplified form, an edge and two frontviews, respectively, of multiple iterations of another variant type baseunit;

FIG. 31D illustrates, in simplified form, an alternative lightingassembly incorporating the base units of FIGS. 31A-31B;

FIGS. 32A-32B, illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side view,respectively, of one example implementation of a lighting assembly;

FIGS. 33A-33C, illustrate, in simplified form, a representative exampleof an approach that incorporates solar cells into the louvers;

FIG. 34 illustrates, in simplified form, one example prior art attemptto make a uniform brightness lighting display using multiple fluorescenttubes;

FIGS. 35A-35C illustrate, in simplified form, a prior art alternativeattempt to make a uniform lighting display using a standard displaymatrix;

FIGS. 36A-36B illustrate, in simplified form, a prior art attempt tomake a uniform 10×50 element lighting display using a standard displaymatrix, such as the matrix of FIG. 35B;

FIGS. 37A-37B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and right sideview of a 10×50 lighting display constructed using the teachingscontained herein;

FIG. 38 illustrates, in simplified form, a schematic of a 10×10 lightingdisplay constructed using four of the standard display matrix units ofFIG. 35B;

FIGS. 39A-39C each illustrate a tube with different length base unitshaving different numbers of luminaires that share a common set of powerrails through which a transformer can supply power;

FIGS. 40A-40B illustrate, in simplified form, a self-addressing systemas disclosed in incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,059 and incorporatedReissue application Ser. No. 13/921,907;

FIGS. 41A-41B respectively illustrate, in simplified form, a wirelessversion of the self-addressing system, incorporated by reference, bothwithout a feedback line and with a feedback line;

FIG. 42 illustrates, in simplified form, a schematic blockrepresentation of one representative example self-addressing radiocontroller repeater;

FIG. 43 illustrates, in simplified form, an arrangement of base unitswithin a graphic display constructed according to the teachings herein;

FIGS. 44A-44F illustrate, in simplified form, a functional example of asequence of actions making up one method of wireless self-addressing;

FIGS. 45A 45C illustrate, in simplified form, a functional example of asequence of actions making up a method of independent wirelessself-addressing;

FIGS. 46A-46D illustrate, in simplified form, the functional example ofhow a failed base unit in the independent wireless self-addressingconfiguration of FIGS. 45A-45C can be determined and handled;

FIGS. 47A-47E illustrate, in simplified form, a representative exampleof a configuration of base units implementing multi-dimensional addressreception;

FIGS. 48, 49, and 50A-50C illustrate, in simplified form, representativeexamples of how to use multi-dimensional addressing to self-address adisplay;

FIG. 50D illustrates, in simplified form, a lighting display that is, inall material structural, functional and operational respects, identicalto the lighting display of FIGS. 50A-50C except that power is suppliedto each base unit through the use of solar cells;

FIG. 51A-51X illustrate, in simplified form, a basic overview of theDelaunay triangulation technique using a two-dimensional example;

FIGS. 52A-52B illustrate, in simplified form, a display constructedaccording to the teachings herein;

FIG. 53 illustrates, in simplified form multiple light strand-typelighting displays, constructed using tubes and the teachings describedherein, hanging in front of a building;

FIG. 54A illustrates, in simplified form, multiple chip sets of adisplay that use wireless communication to establish their physicaldistance between one another and then use their relative location withinthe grid to self address;

FIG. 54B illustrates, in simplified form, how, by using self-addressingthat inherently includes an address gap, positional changes can beaccounted for;

FIGS. 55A-55D illustrate, in simplified form, image correction of amoving display constructed according to the teachings herein;

FIG. 56 illustrates, in simplified form, an example of a concert venueconfigured to take advantage of the teachings herein;

FIG. 57 which illustrates, in simplified form, an example application ofcomplex self-addressing;

FIG. 58A-58C illustrate, in simplified form, an independentself-addressing “geo” stick configured for self-addressing, andcommunicating with a master control unit, according to teachings herein;

FIGS. 59A-59B illustrate, in simplified form, another exampleapplication for monitoring remote equipment according to the teachingsherein;

FIG. 60 illustrates, in simplified form, yet another application of theteachings herein;

FIG. 61 illustrates, in simplified form, essentially a reversal of theprocess of FIG. 61; and

FIG. 62 represents a restaurant and the coming together of many of theteachings herein and/or extensions thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The instant devices and approach provide a way to build large displaysfrom multiple luminaires in different configurations that, dependingupon the particular implementation, are lighter than theircorresponding-sized counterparts, are more easily configured, moreeasily serviced, and, as size increases, retains its image qualityrelative to current conventional counterparts. In addition, variousself-addressing approaches are described that allow for multipleluminaires or other devices to operate in a coordinated fashion withoutthe need for establishing and setting an address for each based uponknowledge of other devices that will also be part of the coordinatedoperation.

Various implementations which may contain one or more inventions, asclaimed, will now be described with reference to the figures in whichthe same reference numeral in different views indicates the same aspect.

FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of a front perspective view of oneexample implementation. Lighting Assembly 1 is made up of a tube 100having one or more attachment extensions 102 and multiple board supports104. Within the translucent tube 100, there are multiple base units 110,typically, printed circuit boards and mounted on the printed circuitboard base units 110 s are multiple luminaires 120. Depending upon theparticular type of luminaires used, the base units can merely besupporting structures for the luminaires with no electronic circuitry orwiring thereon at all, they can be supporting structures that carryphysical wires or circuit boards of some type (e.g. multi-layer,multi-wire or printed). As used herein, the terms “base unit”, “circuitboard”, and “printed circuit board” are intended to encompass all ofthese configurations interchangeably and have the meaning appropriatefor the particular luminaires with which it is used. The luminaires 120are lighting elements which, depending upon the particularimplementation are made up of, for example, one or more individual lightbulbs (incandescent, excited gas, halogen, fluorescent,electro-luminescent, or light emitting diodes (LEDs)), individual LEDs,LED arrays (single color or multiple color, including red/green/blue(“RGB”) arrays), along with their associated drive or power connectionsor electronics. Depending upon the particular implementation, somevariant luminaires may be dimmable or have selectable/variablebrightness. As a result, it should be understood that, with differentvariants, the luminaires 120 can merely serve as lights or can act asindividual pixels on a static or dynamic display.

The tube 100 is used to protect the luminaires 120 from physical damagefrom the exterior and/or from the elements, depending upon where theLighting Assembly 1 may be used. The board supports 104 are used toconstrain the circuit boards 110 in a fixed position within the LightingAssembly 1 during use, and the attachment extensions 102 are used tomaintain a desired orientation and spacing between, in thisconfiguration, the front face 130 of the tube 100 and the luminaires120.

At least the front face 130 of the tube 100 is translucent so that lightemitted by the luminaires 120 can be viewed from external to the tube100. Depending upon the particular implementation, for ease ofmanufacture, some implementations can be made so that more than just theface, right up to the entire tube 100 is translucent. The translucentface of the tube 100 (and some or all of the overall tube 100 itself)can be made of any translucent material, for example, glass, crystal, ortranslucent plastic such as an acrylic. Ideally, if an acrylic is usedand the Lighting Assembly 1 will have significant exposure toultraviolet (“UV”) light like from sunlight, it is desirable that theface (and possibly the entire tube 100 have appropriate UV stability soas to not degrade to a detrimental extent from that UV exposure, whichcould diminish the light passing quality of the face and/or thestructural integrity of the tube 100. Other suitable plastic materialsthat can be used for some implementations include polycarbonate andpolyethylene, the important aspect of the tube 100 being the translucentnature and structural capability, rather than the particular materialused for the tube. As shown in the implementation of FIG. 1, the entiretube 100 is translucent. Additionally, the body and/or face of the tube100 maybe clear, frosted, tinted or colored as desired. In the casewhere the front face and body are made of separate pieces, the body neednot be translucent at all and could be made of a plastic, a metal orvirtually any other material, the important aspect being that the partof the tube other than the front face needs to be large enough toaccommodate one or more base units slidably inserted therein such thatthe luminaires will be properly positioned behind the front face andappropriate clearance is available for cooling or to allow forappropriate heat dissipation.

Depending upon the particular implementation and end use, and as is thecase for the translucent tube 100 of FIG. 1, the body and/or front faceof the tube 100 can be manufactured as a continuous extrusion or formedusing other methods such as machining, poured epoxy and/or 3-D printing,to name a few. In other cases, the face and body of the tube 100 can bemade using different processes and joined together thereafter using ajoining technique appropriate to the particular materials.Advantageously, using continuous extrusion, tubes of almost any lengthcan be readily manufactured.

In many cases, attachment extension 102 and front face will be part ofthe continuous extruded translucent tube 100. Where this is the case forthe attachment extension 102, they may run the entire length of the tube100. However, in some cases and like the front face, the attachmentextension 102 can be created via a secondary processes such asmachining, or may be created separately and then joined to the main partof the tube 100, for example by gluing, melting, sonic welding, or anyother joining technique suitable for the particular materials involved.Moreover, it should be understood that the attachment extension 102 neednot be uniform or even present along the entire length of the tube insome implementations. Rather, it can vary or be intermittently presentso long as its attachment function is preserved.

As shown in the implementation of FIG. 1, the board supports 104rotationally maintain the position of the plurality of printed circuitboards 110 within the translucent tube 100 while still allowing theprinted circuit boards 110 to move slidably so that they can be insertedand/or removed via the end of the translucent tube 100.

The ability of the plurality of printed circuit boards 110 to moveslidably and to be inserted and subsequently removed from the end of thetranslucent tube 100 is an advantageous design feature. Traditionalbuilding mounted billboard displays must be serviced from either thefront or the back of the display, which means either the display must bebuilt out from the building facade, to allow access from the back, or,if it is to be serviced from the front, a bucket truck, gantry orcarriage lowerable using davits must be available. Moreover, using a oneof the variant approaches herein, digital billboards and wallscapedisplays can be created in sizes up to and beyond the largest commondigital billboard size of 14′ high×48′ wide because each tube canreadily exceed that width and/or height. Advantageously, being able toservice such a display from the end of each tube potentially eliminatesor reduces the need for such equipment and provides a more servicer-safeand/or more cost effective means of servicing the billboard displaysince, depending upon the orientation with which the tubes are mountedto create the billboard, they can be serviced from the top, bottom, orside(s).

FIGS. 2A-2B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side view,respectively, of the lighting assembly 1 of FIG. 1, now mounted on astructure 200 using multiple attachment aids 210. Notably, the specificconfiguration of the lighting assembly 1 results in an attachment gap220, which will be described later. As shown, the attachment aids 210are depicted as screws. However, it should be understood that anystandard attachment aids appropriate to the particular intended use andsupport 200 to which it will be mounted can be used, such as, forexample, bolts, rivets, clips, and/or adhesives, the important aspectbeing that the attachment aids 210 provide an appropriate type anddegree of attachment, not the type or character of the attachment aids210 used.

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side viewrespectively of the structure 200 of FIG. 2 onto which additionallighting assemblies 1 from FIG. 1 have been mounted using attachmentaids 210.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, there is a single row of luminare per tube100. In some implementations, the width of the tube 100 is specifiedsuch that, when mounted adjacent to another tube 100, the spacing 320between adjacent luminaires 120 therein will advantageously be matchedbetween the luminaires 120 in one tube 100 and the correspondingluminaires 120 of each adjacent tube 100. In other words, thecenter-to-center distance 320 established as “Ø” between luminaires 120within a given tube 100 can also easily be established as acenter-to-center distance 315 of “Ø” between luminaires 120 in twoadjacent tubes 100 and advantageously producing a standard spacing unit.Once established this standard spacing unit can be used to produce adisplay that is uniformly spaced at this standard spacing unit, or at agreater spacing by simply increasing the center-to-center distance 320and creating a corresponding mounting gap 310 such that thecenter-to-center distance 315 will always be equal to thecenter-to-center distance 320.

Additionally, in some implementations there is at least one row ofluminaire 120 on the printed circuit boards 110 and the center-to-centerdistance 315 of “Ø” between luminaires 120 in two adjacent tubes 100 isoptimized such that it the spacing between the nearest luminaire 120 inadjacent tubes 100 is minimized. In some cases, this may involve addingadditional rows of luminaires 120. Once the optimally minimized spacingbetween adjacent tubes is established, for uniformity, thecenter-to-center distance 320 between luminaire 120 within a tube 100 isset so that it is equal to the optimized center-to-center distance 315between the adjacent tubes. In other words, the maximum uniform densityof luminaires 120 for a display is created by minimizing thecenter-to-center distance 315 between the nearest the luminaires 120 inadjacent tubes 100. One of the advantages of creating a maximum uniformdensity of luminaire 120 is that higher resolution displays can becreated. An additional advantage is that, as the density of theluminaires is increased, the power that the luminaires 120 are run atcan be reduced, while still producing the same display brightness. Theability to run the luminaires 120 at reduced power is advantageousbecause a reduction in power generally translates to, for example,reduced energy cost, reduced heat generation (potentially reducing oreliminating the need for ancillary cooling measures and/or equipment andheat-related degradation, failures and maintenance, again saving cost),and also it can significantly prolong bulb life which may likewisetranslate into reduced service requirements and cost savings.

As can now be seen in FIG. 3, attachment gap 220 advantageously providesa space for, and can obscure, the attachment aids 210 of the adjacenttube 100. Thus, due to fact that attachment gap 220 exists, it ispossible to minimize the spacing 310 between tubes 100 to match thein-tube 100 spacing Ø between adjacent luminaires 120 and allows for useof techniques such as the edge-butting technique shown. An additionaladvantage that can be achieved by some implementations of this approachis that the center-to-center distance between luminaires of adjacenttubes 120 resulting from accommodating the size of each luminaire 120within a tube 120 can be minimized and used to establish theinter-luminaire 120 spacing within each tube 120. An advantageousbyproduct of this approach is that a denser/richer display can becreated than can be created conventionally. A further advantage of thisapproach, as well as others that will be discussed, is that the way itcan be mounted allows for an unobstructed view through the front face ofthe tube.

FIGS. 4A-4B respectively illustrate, in simplified form, side views ofadjacent ends 420, 430 of two printed circuit boards 110 a, 110 b, whichwould be installed, for example, in a tube as described herein, such asthe tube 100 of FIG. 1. As shown, the end 420 of one printed circuitboard 110 a contains an electrical connector 400 and the end 430 of theother adjacent printed circuit board 110 b contains a correspondinglymating electrical connector 410. The connectors 400 and 410 provideelectrical (and optionally optical and/or other forms of) connectivitybetween the adjacent circuit boards 110 a, 110 b to allow for passageof, for example, address and data signals and power therebetween. FIG.4A shows these two circuit boards 110 a, 110 b immediately before theyare connected to each other and FIG. 4B shows the same boards 110 a, 110b after they have been connected to each other by mating the connectors400, 410. FIG. 4C illustrates, in simplified form, a top view of theboards 110 a, 110 b of FIG. 4B (i.e. after they have been connectedtogether using the connectors 400, 410).

As shown in FIG. 4A, the connector 400 is a female connector and theconnector 410 is a male connector. Of course, it should be recognizedthat this is not critical. Just as readily, the connector 400 could havebeen a male connector and the connector 410 could have matingly thenbeen a female connector. Moreover, it should be understood that theboards 110 a, 110 b need not be connected by mating connectors orphysical inter-connectors at all. The boards 110 a, 110 b could beconnected by any other approach or technique that allows for electricalboard-to-board interconnection. For example, with some implementations,the boards could be connected for signal passage purposes, usingcapacitive or inductive coupling, and maintained in proximity by theboard sizing or, for example, one or more appropriate sized magnets onthe end 420 of one circuit board 110 a and one or more opposite poles ofsimilarly sized magnets on the opposite end 430 of the adjacent board110 b. Likewise, signals can be passed and/or the boards could beconnected for signal passage purposes, by any other types of connectionsincluding those used to pass optical signals.

Indeed, throughout the description herein, it is to be understood thatany reference to a wired connection or signal passage should beunderstood to encompass any type of connection over which such power orsignals can be passed, which shall include, but not be limited tooptical signals via air or optical fiber, and any way used to passsignals, including using any wavelength signal in the electromagneticspectrum appropriate for the application and any transmission medium ormedia.

One advantage to the use of female and male connectors 400, 410 is thatthey not only provide an electrical interconnection between the printedcircuit boards 110 a, 110 b but also concurrently provide a mechanicalconnection between them as well.

At this point, it should be understood that the terms “male” and“female” used in conjunction with reference to connectors are notintended to represent a specific connector configuration, but rather aremerely used to specify a general class of connectors in which matingparts are joined together such that at least a portion of one isconstrained within at least a portion of another.

One advantage to providing a mechanical connection between the printedcircuit boards 110 a, 110 b, whether or not it is integral with theelectrical connection between boards 110 a, 110 b, is that the boards110 a, 110 b are able to expand and contract as a unit and thereforestill maintain uniform board-to-board spacing. This highlights a furtheradvantage that can be achieved by using board supports 104 that arechannel-shaped as in FIG. 1. By using channel-shaped board supports 104,the printed circuit boards 110 a, 110 b are not constrained in theirlongitudinal direction, so they are able to move slidably, both wheninserted into the tube 100 and during expansion and contraction. This isa valuable advantage because current display approaches producelocalized distortions due to non-uniform expansion and contraction.Additionally, the under board placement of the connectors 400, 410 shownand afforded by this approach allows for full engagement of theconnectors 400, 410 that minimizes or eliminates any visible gap betweenthe boards 110 a, 110 b, which can help approach or obtain maximumoptical balance, regardless of how many boards or are inserted into agiven tube 100. A further valuable advantage to this approach is that itminimizes or eliminates the dark shadows normally present with standarddisplay units and, in particular, those requiring heat sinks. FIGS.5A-5B respectively illustrate, in simplified side view, two printedcircuit boards 110 a′, 110 b′ that are similar to the circuit boards 110a, 110 b of FIG. 4 but differ in that they have one or more optionalphysical connection receptacles 500 at each end. These optional physicalconnection receptacles 500 provide for an alternative or additional wayof mechanically connecting the two circuit boards 110 a′, 110 b′ when,for example either, the electrical connectors do not provide any oradequate mechanical connection between boards, for example, when usingcapacitive or inductive coupling, or wire connections such as wiringharnesses and flexible circuit connections. Alternatively, thereceptacles 500 can be electrically wired so that, in addition toforming a mechanical connection between adjacent boards, with a suitableconductive clip or jumper, they can be used to transfer power or signalsfrom board to board instead of, or in addition to, any electricalconnector that might be used.

FIG. 5A shows these boards pre-connection and FIG. 5B shows these boardspost-connection. FIG. 5C illustrates, in simplified form, a front viewof the boards 110 a′, 110 b′ of FIGS. 5A and 5B. As shown in FIGS. 5Band 5C, the mechanical connection between the boards 110 a′, 110 b′ isprovided by a wire tie 510 inserted through a receptacle 500 on twoadjacent boards and tightened until the desired degree of spacing andrigidity of connection is achieved. FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate, insimplified form, a side view, and FIG. 6C illustrates a front view, ofboards 110 c, 110 d, which are similar to the boards 110 a′, 110 b′ ofFIGS. 5A-5C, but these boards 110 c, 110 d have two or more receptacles500′ in each board and the boards 110 c, 110 d of FIGS. 6A and 6B areconnected with a “U”-shaped clip or connector 610 that can be insertedinto two or more of the holes on one board 110 c and, correspondingly,two or more holes on an adjacent board 110 d to physically hold the twotogether.

It is important to note at this point that the particular type ofmechanical interconnection, if any, used is not critical to theoperation or understanding of the instant approach. The wire tie 510 and“U”-shaped clip or connector 610 are intended to merely berepresentative of some type of secondary mechanical connector that maybe used to provide a physical board-to-board connection, and other formsof secondary mechanical board-to-board connections can likewise be used,such as a hinged connections, hook and eye connections, spring clips,and even a slot into which a part of an adjacent circuit board can beinserted and maintained with a locking tab or catch. Moreover, althoughthe receptacles 500, 500′ have been shown as round holes, depending uponthe particular interconnection, the receptacles 500, 500′ could have anyshape, circular, oval, slotted, rectangular, triangular, regular orcomplex, and, in some implementations, they might not be present at all,for example, slot/tab or slot/catch approach or by providing one or moreposts on each circuit board that can be coupled together by one or morebands, clips, etc. Likewise, any number of receptacles can be used, fromone to as many as would reasonably fit and be needed to accomplish thedesired joinder of the two boards for a particular use.

The use of a mechanical connection between adjacent boards allows forsimplified serviceability from, for example, the side of the display,particularly when the display is made up of many multi-luminaire boardswithin each individual tube 110 thus eliminating the need to deploybucket trucks or cranes to service the display of luminaires,irrespective of the length of an individual tube and the number ofboards longitudinally contained therein. Alternately, in someimplementations that do not include mechanical connection betweenboards, it may not be possible to pull the boards out for service fromone end of a tube. Advantageously, in many cases, advantages achieved bythe instant approach are not lost, although it may be necessary to pushthe boards from one end of a tube to cause them to slide out theopposite end to service them using some form of pole or other auxiliarymeans.

FIGS. 7A-7B are a front and side view, respectively, of a set ofalternative variant lighting assembly implementations similar to thelighting assembly 1 of FIGS. 2A and 2B except that, as shown in FIGS. 7Aand 7B, the lighting assembly 7 lacks attachment extension 102 andattachment gap 220. Instead, tube 700 of FIGS. 7A and 7B have one ormore alternative attachment extensions 702 configured to allowattachment of the tube 700 to structure support hardware 750. In allother respects, the tube 700 and the tube 100 can be formed in the samemanner. Note here that, as with tube 100, the front face 730 is shown asflat. This is merely for simplicity of explanation. As will be seenbelow, and should be understood, the particular shape used for thetranslucent front face is irrelevant, it could advantageously thereforebe flat, curved, undulating, concave, convex, etc. or any other shape asdesired or dictated by other factors such as the particular intendeduse, manufacturability, the internal components, the material(s) beingused, cost, etc.

Returning to FIGS. 7A and 7B, in contrast to the lighting assembly 1 ofFIGS. 2A and 2B, rather than mounting directly to a supporting structureby attachment extensions, the tube 700 is indirectly attached to asupporting structure 704 via structure support hardware 750. In thisregard, the lighting assembly 7 includes attachment extensions 702 onthe tube 700 that are configured to connect to the structure supporthardware 750 after the structure support hardware 750 has first beenattached to an underlying structure 704 by, in the particularimplementation shown, snapping the tube 700 into place using theattachment extensions 702. Advantageously, the structure supporthardware 750, being separate from the tube 700, can be made of anyappropriate material, can be longer of shorter than the correspondingtube(s) 700 with which it/they will be used, designed to be affixed toan underlying structure 704 by any affixation approach appropriate tothe particular use including, for example, screws, bolts, nails, hooks,clips, adhesive, channels formed in the underlying structure, etc.Additionally, the structure support hardware 750 may further be designedwith corresponding straight or mating edges so that rows of thestructure support hardware 750 can be installed such that they buttagainst one another to thereby automatically act as a form of displayregistration for row of tubes 700 by ensuring a known and/orpre-established spacing between successive rows. A further advantage tousing a configuration of attachment extensions 702 and structure supporthardware 750 such as shown, is that it allows the tubes 700 to beinstalled directly from the front or, in some cases, longitudinally, byengaging the two at one end and sliding one of the tubes relative to theother in a longitudinal direction.

FIG. 8 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of yet anotheralternative lighting assembly 8 variant similar to the variant of FIGS.7A and 7B except that the tube 800 of FIG. 8 has a front face 802 thatis curved and optionally includes at least two corresponding pairs ofboard supports 104′ that allow the printed circuit boards 110 containingthe luminaires 120 to be inserted therein in a stable manner asdescribed above. The optional different pairs of board supports 104′also advantageously allows the printed circuit boards 110 to be insertedinto a tube 800, or different tubes 800, at different orientationsrelative to the underlying structure 704, thereby providing an easy wayto produce differing viewing angles 860, 870, and 880 either within atube 800 and/or between rows of tubes 800-1, 800-2, 800-3. At thispoint, it should be noted that, most implementations will includemultiple pairs of opposing board supports, with each pair of boardsupports 104′ will be oriented within the tube such that they runparallel to the longitudinal axis of the tube. However, this is not arequirement. With some implementation variants, one side of the tube mayhave multiple board supports while the opposite side will have, forexample, a lesser number or even a single board support that canaccommodate different tilt angles of an inserted base unit inserted intoany one or more of the multiple board supports on the opposite side.Likewise, with some implementation variants, it may be desirable to formboard supports within a given tube at an angle relative to the tube'slongitudinal axis. In this manner, for example, tubes of a display canbe mounted on the wall (or ceiling) of a hallway parallel to the wall(or ceiling) for aesthetics, but the displays within the tube can beangled for better viewing by persons traversing the hallway.

The ability to adjust viewing angle is advantageous and particularlyuseful as displays get larger and larger because, due to the opticalcharacteristics, it may be very desirable to adjust the viewing angle sothat it is optimized along some or all of the length and/or height toavoid a phenomena known as “display wash-out”, in which a viewer isunable to clearly see the edges of a display.

FIGS. 9A-9B are a front and side view, respectively, of still anotheralternative variant lighting assembly 9 similar to those discussed abovemade up of a tube 900 having one or more attachment extensions 902configured to attach to structure support hardware 950 that, like thestructure support hardware 750 can be separately attached to anunderlying structure 704. However, as shown, the attachment extensions902 are configured to slidably engage a corresponding portion of thestructure support hardware 950 using, for example, a longitudinal tab onone and a longitudinal channel on the other or vice versa. As with theconfiguration of FIGS. 7A and 7B, this configuration allows forinstallation of a tube 900 by longitudinally sliding it onto thestructure support hardware 950 from an end, but it does not allow forinsertion or removal from the front.

Likewise, with this variant, the structure support hardware 950 isconfigured to butt against each other for purposes of registration aswith FIG. 7B and FIG. 8.

Up to now, with each of the variants, the structure support hardware750, 950 has been configured such that the orientation of the respectivetube(s) would be generally parallel to the underlying structure 704.However, it should be understood that this need not be the case. Forexample, the tube 100 of FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B could have beenformed at an angle that allowed the tube 100 to be attached to anunderlying structure 200 while orienting an inserted printed circuitboard at an angle to that structure 200, either longitudinally,orthogonally or in some combination thereof.

FIG. 10 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of the lightingassembly 9 of FIGS. 9A and 9B mounted to an underlying structure 704 byalternative variant structure support hardware 950′ that is similar tostructure support hardware 950 except, rather than mounting a lightingassembly 9 parallel to the underlying structure 704, the variantstructure support hardware 950′ of FIG. 10 allows the tubes 900 to bemounted at an angle offset from parallel to the surface of theunderlying structure 704. Thus, it should be understood that thisvariant configuration could be used as an alternate way of preventing“display wash-out” because, by varying the dimensions of the structuresupport hardware 950′ various orientation angles for the boards 110 canlikewise be produced.

In contrast with the structure support hardware 950 of FIG. 9, as can beseen in FIG. 10, successive rows of structure support hardware 950′ maynot be able to be abutted against each other, resulting in, for example,mounting gaps 1010, 1020, 1030. In this particular case, as shown inFIG. 10 the mounting gaps 1010, 1020, 1030 are due to interferencebetween tubes 900 of successive lighting assemblies 9. In thisparticular case, registration can also be accomplished by using a spacer1040 (only one of which is shown) of appropriate size that can betemporarily or permanently inserted between adjacent structure supporthardware 950′ units to establish proper spacing between them and,consequently the rows of tubes 900. Advantageously, in this way, byusing the same or different sized spacers within the gaps 1010, 1020,1030 issues like display washout can be addressed for a particularlocation or configuration without requiring manufacturing of differentsize or shape structure support hardware. Similarly, with some variants,spacers can be integrally formed on the structure support hardware,although that provides less flexibility than separate spacers allow. Asan intermediate approach, different protruding tabs can be separatelyformed on the external surface of the structure support hardware asspacers such that an installer can have the option among differentstandard spacings by merely removing the tabs for the undesired spacing.Moreover, for installer convenience, a set of standard separate spacerscould be made available as a tool along with a short length of untabbedstructure support hardware to allow an installer to determine thedesired spacing prior to removing any tabs from the actual structuresupport hardware to be installed.

FIG. 11 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of an additionalvariant implementation. As shown in FIG. 11, the lighting assembly 11 ismade of a translucent face 1104 of a tube 1100 configured to accept abase unit 110 having one or more luminaires 120 thereon longitudinallyinserted therein. The tube 1100 further includes one or more variantattachment extensions 1102 that are configured to matingly couple toalternative variant structure support hardware 1105.

As shown, the attachment extension 1102 is configured as a cog with anexterior surface having knurling, protrusions, rounded bumps or teeththereon. The structure support hardware 1105 is configured with a matingformation on its inner surface such that the attachment extension 1102part of the tube 1100 can be slid into structure support hardware 1105at any one of various orientations. In a slightly different variant ofthis particular configuration, the attachment extension and structuresupport hardware could be configured using a “ball and socket” typedesign as well. Alternately, with some implementation the attachmentextension 1102 may be pressed into place in the structure supporthardware 1105 from the front, if the structure hardware 1105 issufficiently flexible and resilient to allow doing so. Likewise, if thesupport structure hardware is appropriately flexible and resilient, thisvariant can allow for the tube 1105 to be attached to the underlyingstructure 704 in one position and later be replaced, or reoriented to adifferent position, at a later time without altering the position of thesupport structure hardware. Additionally, depending upon the particularimplementation, with some variants, the positioning and fit between thetwo can be merely maintained by their geometry and/or friction, withother variants, positioning and fit may involve use of some form ofknown pinning, locking or clamping mechanism, the important aspect beingthat the attachment extension and structure support hardware, incombination, allow for variability of placement of the tube 1100 evenafter the structure support hardware has been mounted to a supportingsurface.

As should now be appreciated FIGS. 8, 10, and 11 represent a few exampletechniques by which the same luminaires can easily be oriented at any ofvarious different viewing angles through use of different configurationtubes or tube-mounting hardware. However, it should be understood that,by no means are they the only way that such angles can be achieved. Forexample, varying the angle of the luminaire and/or its mounting on abase unit may be used as well, as can changing the placement of a singleset of board supports within the tube.

FIGS. 12A-12B illustrate, in simplified form, are a front and side view,respectively, of yet an additional variant implementation in which alighting assembly 12, comprised of one or more luminaire 120 and itsassociated base unit 110 are housed in an associated translucent-facedtube 1200. With this variant, the tube 1200 further includes two or moreattachment extensions 902, 1203, and 1205 located on different parts ofthe tube.

As shown, the tubes 1200 of FIG. 12B are configured with one set ofattachment extensions 902 that can be used to attach that tube to anunderlying structure 704 by, for example, the structure support hardware950 of FIG. 9B.

Advantageously, with this variant, subsequent adjacent rows need notconnect to the underlying structure 704 by their own structure supporthardware, they can be interconnected to an adjacent tube using one ofattachment extensions 1203 and 1205. In this particular case, attachmentextensions 902 and structure hardware 950 are illustrated as a round barand cylindrical sleeve that allows the bar on one tube to belongitudinally slid into the sleeve of another tube, but it should beunderstood they are simply representative of one particular type ofattachment extension pairing that can be used to indirectly attach atube to an underlying structure 704. It should be understood andappreciated that any form of mating geometry that allows forlongitudinal sliding attachment can be used. Likewise, with somevariants of this configuration, the attachment extensions can beconfigured such that they can be matingly connected from a directionorthogonal to the longitudinal direction, for example, in the case ofFIG. 12B, from the bottom in a snap-in-place manner or from the front,using, for example, a hook and catch, interlocking hanging channels orother hanger mechanisms. However, it should be noted that where suchhanging type connection is to be used, the attachment extensions must beconfigured such that they can support the weight of whatever number oftubes will hang form them. In this regard, it should be noted that oneway to mitigate the need for overly large attachment extensions which,for some intended uses, might result in detrimentally large spacingbetween tubes, is through use of a hybrid combination in which a firsttube is attached to an underlying structure by structure supporthardware, and one or more tubes are suspended directly or indirectlyfrom that first tube until a certain number of tubes have been attached,at which point new structure support hardware is attached to theunderlying structure and the next tube is connected to both thestructure support hardware and the adjacent suspended tube above itusing the attachment extensions as well. Advantageously, in this manner,the weight can be managed and the tubes can be stabilized frompotentially swinging into the underlying structure.

As further advantage to the type of variant approach of FIGS. 12A and12B is that this approach allows a degree of articulation at theinterconnection, so that for example, partially or completely assembleddisplays of these lighting assemblies can be rolled up for ease oftransportation and installation at a desired location.

Again, it bears repeating that, with some implementations, using theattachment extensions 1203 and 1205, a mounting gap 1210 is producedbetween the two adjacent lighting assemblies 12. Advantageously, sinceit is desirable to minimize the center-to-center spacing 0 betweenluminaires 120 in adjacent tubes, once that minimum distance isestablished, board units with luminaires 120 spaced apart on a givenboard and/or between boards at the same center-to-center spacing Ø canbe used.

FIGS. 13A-13B illustrate, in simplified form, side views of two furtheralternative variant implementations. In FIG. 13A, the lighting assembly13 is made up of luminaires 120 mounted on a printed circuit board 110that is inserted in an associated translucent-faced tube 1300 that isoval in shape. As in FIG. 8, the tube 1300 includes multiple boardsupports 1304 that allow for the printed circuit board to be oriented ina variety of angles within the tube 1300. As with FIGS. 12A and 12B,this variant configuration tube includes attachment extensions 1203′,1205′ that allow for direct connection of adjacent tubes to each other,and an attachment extension 1302 configured for connecting the tube 1300to an underlying structure 704 by structure support hardware 950 such asdescribed above.

FIG. 13B is identical to FIG. 13A except, since, in some applications,the oval configuration allows external light to enter from a variety ofangles, which for some implementations can result in undesirable glare.The tube 1300′ of FIG. 13B includes a louver 1390 to block the lightfrom certain directions while allowing the luminaire to still be viewedfrom the desired direction. Advantageously, the addition of a louver caninvolve using a separately louver that can be, for example, attached tothe tube 1300′, attached to an attachment extension 1203′, 1205′ or itcan be co-extruded with the tube. As shown, the louver 1390 is aco-extruded louver.

Co-extrusion is the process of combining different materialssimultaneously (or different colors of the same material) into a singlepart. Co-extrusion utilizes two or more extruders to melt and deliver asteady volume of different viscous plastics to a single extrusion head(die), which will extrude the materials in the desired form as a singlepart. The thicknesses of each material in the combined part arecontrolled by the relative speeds and sizes of the individual extrudersdelivering the materials.

The use of co-extrusion can be advantageous when the tube is to be atranslucent tube, because through co-extrusion, a translucent materialcan be used for the tube while an opaque material is co-extruded as thelouver. A further advantage to the configuration of FIG. 13B is that,not only do louvers block light from entering the display, louversprevent “light pollution”. Thus, the louvers will not only preventreflected light from bouncing off the translucent tube, potentiallycausing glare to those opposite and above the display, they can alsoprevent the display light from being projected upward, avoiding a commoncomplaint from people living in floors opposite and above a lightingdisplay.

FIG. 14 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of an alternativevariant identical to the variant of FIG. 12B except that the attachmentextensions 1407 and 1408 are matching hooks.

Thus, it should now be appreciated that the tube-to-tubeinterconnections displayed in FIGS. 12 through 14 are representative ofa class of interconnections, namely a class that allows a degree ofarticulation between adjacent lighting assemblies to advantageouseffect. However, it should also be appreciated that the advantageousarticulation is optional and other non-articulating configurations suchas a dovetail joint and tongue and groove joints, snap fasteners orother solid mechanical connections can equally be used.

FIGS. 15A-15B illustrate, in simplified form, front and side views,respectively, of a further alternative variant that is identical to thevariant of FIGS. 12A and 12B except that the tube 1200 includes anoptional detachable louver 1502 and louver attachment 1504. As shown,the detachable louver 1502 and louver attachment 1504 are shown as acylinder and socket type connection, which would advantageously allowdetachable louver 1592 to be snapped into place and articulated throughan angular arc “θ”. However, other configuration such as, for example, adovetail joint or tongue and groove joint, as well as a configurationwhere the louver 1502 and louver attachment 1504 are formed as a unitarypiece can also be used, as can (as noted above) a louver that is formedas part of the tube 1200.

FIGS. 16A-16B illustrate, in simplified form, a top and side view,respectively, of still another alternative implementation variantwherein the lighting assembly 16 similar to the lighting assembly 15 ofFIGS. 15A and 15B except that each inserted printed circuit board 1610includes multiple rows of two or more luminaires 1620, in this specificexample, two rows of at least six luminaires per row. Additionally, inorder to block external overhead light, each tube 1600 includes louvers1690, in this example, one for each row of luminaires 1620.

FIGS. 17A-17B illustrate, in simplified form, front and side views,respectively, of an additional alternative implementation variant. Withthis variant, the lighting assembly 17 is similar to the lightingassembly 16 in that it includes a printed circuit board 1610 with rowsof luminaires 1620 an associated tube 1700 having attachment extensions1703, 1705. With this variant however, there are two rows of opaquelouvers 1790 co-extruded with two planar translucent front faces 1780.Since the expected viewing angle relative to the vertical underlyingsupport 704 is “β” plus 90 degrees, the translucent front faces areformed so that they are canted 1785 at about the same angle of β suchthat the two planar translucent front faces 1780 are about perpendicularto the expected viewing angle. Alternately, when the expected viewingangle is perpendicular to the mounting surface and a viewer may have alighting source associated with them, such as an individual driving acar with their headlights turned on, then canting the translucent frontfaces 1785 at an angle of β can advantageously direct reflected lightaway from the viewer, while still allowing the viewer to view thedisplay.

Similar to attachment extensions 1203, 1205 of FIG. 12B, attachmentextension 1703 is of cylindrical design and mates with matchingattachment extension 1705, which is a designed as a socket thus allowinga degree of articulation at the interconnection. However, attachment1703 and 1705 are offset such that the gap produced when two adjacentlighting assemblies 17 are interconnected using the attachmentextensions 1703, 1705 can be minimized.

Again, it is worth noting that, by minimizing the mounting gap 1710, thesubsequent center-to-center distance 1715 between the two closestluminaires 1620 in adjacent tubes 1700 is also minimized. When there areat least two rows of luminaires, then in order to produce a displaywhere the luminaires 1620 are uniformly spaced at the center-to-centerdistance 1718 of “Ø” between rows, the center-to-center distance 1715 of“Ø between the closest luminaires 1620 in adjacent tubes and thecenter-to-center distance 1720 of “Ø” between the luminaires 1620 withina row all need to be equal.

FIG. 18 illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of the variant ofFIG. 17B showing the advantageous articulation of the lighting assembly17 made possible by the particular type of attachment extensions 1703,1705 such that it can be put together, in whole or part, away from theinstallation site and rolled up in order to aide in transportation tothe installation site and speed up installation. Likewise, it is to beunderstood that the articulation ability of some variants also makes itpossible to more easily connect the lighting display to some curvedsurfaces.

FIG. 19A illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of anotheralternative variant implementation similar to those previously describedexcept that it provides additional space underneath the board, therebyallowing for greater air circulation, which results in greater heatdissipation and reduced expansion and contraction pinching.Additionally, it has optionally also been designed with a shape suchthat it can roll both inward and outward, as seen in FIG. 20, whilestill allowing the mounting gaps 1910, 1910′ to be minimized.Advantageously, the ability to roll both inward and outward allows forinstallation on an undulating surface.

With the variant of FIG. 19A, as shown, the attachment extensions 1902allow the lighting assembly 19 to engage a mounting element, shown inFIG. 19A as a screw 1908, although any known mounting element that canengage the particular attachment extensions 1902 and removably affix itto the underlying support 704 can be substituted or used. Alternatively,in some cases, an adhesive material, like construction adhesive orepoxy, can be substituted and used to attach the attachment extensions1902 to the underlying support 704. Alternatively, in some cases, anadhesive material, like construction adhesive or epoxy, can be used todirectly attach the structure support hardware 1902 to the underlyingsupport 704, but that would result in permanent affixation of thelighting assembly 19 to the underlying support 704.

FIG. 19B illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of an alternativevariant lighting assembly 19′ that is similar to the lighting assembly19 variant of FIG. 19 except that the attachment extension 1902 of FIG.19A is replaced by an internal cavity 1905 that reduces the additionalspace 1904, but consequently can reduce the overall thickness of thelighting assembly from a first overall thickness 1920 for the lightingassembly 19 of FIG. 19A to a reduced overall thickness 1920″ for thelighting assembly 19′ of FIG. 19B.

FIG. 19C illustrates, in simplified form, a side view of a secondalternative variant of the lighting assembly 19 of FIG. 19A.

With this variant, the lighting assembly 19″ is similar to the lightingassembly 19′ of FIG. 19B; however, the geometry of the internal cavity1912 in this figure is slightly different from that of the internalcavity 1905 of FIG. 19B, in that is designed to snap onto a type ofseparate structure support hardware 1950 rather than slide in place,which is particularly desirable as display length increases. As aresult, of the addition of this type of structure support hardware 1950results in an overall thickness 1920″ that is greater than the thickness1920′ of FIG. 19B but still less than the thickness 1920 of FIG. 19A.

In addition, as shown, with this configuration variant, the structuresupport hardware 1950 could be formed in a single row configuration 1916or as a structure support hardware unit 1918 to which multiple rows oftubes 1900″ can be attached.

At this point, it should be understood that, in many cases, thepreviously described structure support hardware 750, 950, 950′, 1105,could also be straightforwardly manufactured as a unit that acceptsmultiple rows of tubes.

While lighting assemblies 19, 19′, and 19″ are all designed tointerconnect together as a form of display registration, advantageously,the single row hardware support structure 1950 can be designed such thatdisplay registration is accomplished by edge butting successive hardwaresupport structures 1950 together as can be seen in, for example, FIGS.7B, 8, 9B, and 11.

FIG. 20 illustrates, in simplified form, how undercuts 1906 andattachment extensions 1703, 1705 allow multiple lighting assemblies tobe interconnected to accommodate an undulating underlying structure2002, the undulating shape of which has been exaggerated in FIG. 20 tohighlight this advantage.

Thus, it should now be understood that, incorporating undercuts into anyof the variants described herein may provide a similar advantage forsome applications, irrespective of whether attachment extensions nearthe translucent front face are used.

As noted above, one of the advantageous features of some implementationsis the element impervious nature of some variant tubes along theirlength. For many applications, it may optionally be similarly desirableto ensure that the ends of the tubes are also sealed from the elementsin some manner.

FIGS. 21A-21B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side view,respectively, of a simple manner for sealing the ends of a tube from theelements. For purposes of example only, this approach is described withreference to the lighting assembly 9 of FIG. 9, however it should beunderstood that this sealing approach, as well as other sealingapproaches described herein are equally applicable to all the describedvariants, as well a permutations and combinations thereof In thisregard, FIGS. 21A and 21B show a sealing approach that, depending uponthe particular sealing material may result in permanent sealing of atube, potentially rendering service of the tube from such a sealed endthereafter impossible. With this sealing approach, at least one end ofthe tube 900 is filled with a fill material 2130, which has theappropriate properties needed to impede or keep undesired matter fromentering the tube, permanently or temporarily. Depending upon theparticular implementation, the fill material 2130 can be a pottingmaterial, a putty, a viscous conformal coating material, a siliconerubber, an expanding foam, a curable material like an epoxy or othercurable resin or sealant, etc. Thus, it should be understood that theparticular material used is not important, what is important is that thematerial be selected such that, for the particular application, it doesnot allow undesirable material (e.g. external air, moisture, dust, bugs,animals, etc.) to enter the tube.

As shown in FIG. 21A, both ends of the tube 900 have been filled with afill 2130 that was applied using a fill applicator 2131 such that theends are completely sealed, in the case where the fill 2130 was acurable epoxy in a permanent manner, with, as also shown in FIG. 21B,only a conduit, wire or cable 2100 (to allow, for example, power orsignals to be provided to the base unit 110 and/or luminaires 120),being allowed to pass through the seal created by the fill 2130.Alternatively, if for example, the fill 2130 was a non-hardening putty,a similar but more temporary seal would be created, allowing the baseunit 110 to potentially be removed by removing the fill 2130 to provideaccess. Notably, a common characteristic of all of these end-sealingapproaches is the use of a material that can conform to the shape of thetube in application. However, this is not a requirement. Instead, forexample, a plug that substantially conforms to the external end shape ofthe tube can be used that, depending upon the particular implementationwill closely conform to and seal against at least one of the exteriorperiphery or end of the lighting assembly, or a plug that can beinserted into and will closely conform to the interior end shape of thetube. In order to form a tight seal, it is expected that the plug willbe made of a material that is deformable to some degree such that itmust be deformed when initially applied to an end of a tube and, inreturning towards its un-deformed shape, will abut against a surface ofthe tube to create the desired seal.

FIGS. 22A-22D respectively illustrate, in simplified form, both a frontand side view, respectively, of four different variant plugs 2232, 2234,2236, 2238 that can be used as an alternative variant seal.Specifically, FIG. 22A shows the front and side views of a solid plug2232, FIG. 22B shows the front and side views of a plug 2234 with acentral through-hole 2240 to allow for a limited connection between theinterior of a tube and the exterior end, for example to accommodatethrough-passage of a conduit, wire or cable or to allow for ventilationor coolant circulation, FIG. 22C shows the front and side views of aplug 2236 similar to FIG. 22B except that it has a through-hole 2242that is offset from the center, and FIG. 22D shows the front and sideviews of a plug 2238 containing two through-holes 2240, 2242 to, forexample, provide for both through-passage of a conduit, wire or cableand for ventilation or coolant circulation.

FIGS. 22E-22F respectively illustrate, in simplified form, a front andside view of the lighting assembly 9 of FIG. 9 with one of the plugs2232, 2234 inserted into each of the ends of the tube 900.

FIGS. 22G-22H respectively illustrate, in simplified form, a front andside view of the lighting assembly 9 of FIG. 9 with the variant plug2236 of FIG. 22C inserted into one end of the tube 900 and the plugvariant 2238 of FIG. 22D inserted into the other end of the tube 900. Asshown in FIG. 22G, the plug 2238 allows for passage of wiring throughthe central through-hole 2240 and additionally allows for passage ofcoolant from a coolant supply 2244 into the tube 900 via one hose 2243via the second through-hole 2242 so that it can pass through the lengthof the tube 900 and exit via a second tube 2245 via the through-hole2242 in the plug 2232 at the other end.

As shown, it should be understood that the coolant provided by thecoolant supply 2244 would be part of a coolant exchange system, onlypart of which is shown, that could be either a closed or an open system.Depending upon the particular implementation, the coolant could eitherpass through the tube(s) by being pushed or drawn through the system. Inaddition, depending upon the particular implementation, the type ofcoolant could be any of: environmental air, conditioned air, liquidcoolants used in electronics such as, for example, synthetichydrocarbons (i.e., diethyl benzene [DEB], dibenzyl toluene, diarylalkyl, partially hydrogenated terphenyl); silicate-ester; aliphatics:aliphatic hydrocarbons of paraffinic and iso-paraffinic type (includingmineral oils); Silicones; Fluorocarbons: such as perfluorocarbons (i.e.,FC-72, FC-77) hydrofluoroethers (HFE) and perfluorocarbon ethers (PFE);and Non-Dielectric Liquid Coolants: such as Ethylene Glycol (EG),Propylene Glycol (PG), Methanol/Water, Ethanol/Water, Calcium ChlorideSolution, Potassium Formate/Acetate Solution, and even Liquid Metals(e.g. Ga—In—Sn).

At this point it should be further noted that, although up to two roundthrough-holes have been shown in a single plug, additional holes of anyshape could be provided without departing from the concepts disclosedherein. Likewise, a single through-hole could be used for multiplepurposes, for example to allow for passage of both electricalconnection(s) and coolant.

Having discussed a few of the numerous lighting assemblies that can becreated by applying the teachings herein in various permutations andcombinations, some details of the internal components of the lightingassemblies will now be discussed.

As the number of boards that are daisy chained together increase, powermanagement running through the boards on the power rails can become anissue, even with as little as a combined total of 10 linear feet perrail. In such a case, the cumulative voltage drop across the boards canresult in a situation where the rail voltage at the initial board(s) issignificantly more than that at the hundredth, and with the hugedisplays creatable using the techniques herein, even the thousandth, orten thousandth board, which can result in varying levels ofillumination. One solution to this issue would be to add a regulator toeach board. However, regulators give off heat and the greater thevoltage difference that the regulator is trying to manage the more heatthat will be generated. While the level of that heat generation may beacceptable in some cases, it could be problematic in others. Thus, itshould be understood that, in some implementations, the rail currentand/or the heat generated by the use of regulators can limit the numberof boards than can effectively be daisy chained together.

Another consideration when creating a long daisy chain of boards, is thecurrent required to power all the luminaires on all the boards.Moreover, if regulators are used, the heat they dissipate could causethe rails running between the boards to exceed their power capacity. Onepotential way to reduce the power on the rails is to increase the railvoltage, since the equations for power (P) are P=I×V=R×I²=V²/R. However,this may not work in all cases because it could also result in theregulators generating more heat and could ultimately overwhelm thesystem.

Another potential solution is to power the boards at higher a voltagewhile using step down transformers, which are often 98-99% efficient, toconvert the power at the board(s) down to the desired level. Not onlydoes this approach advantageously allow more boards to be daisy chainedtogether then might otherwise be possible, it allows the boards to berun more efficiently and at power levels that are less taxing to theirindividual components. Moreover, although this approach can result inhigher manufacturing cost, in many cases, this solution advantageouslyreduces the cost of running the boards and provides a level of increasedlongevity sufficient to more than make up for that higher manufacturingcost.

Likewise, for some implementations, other types of converters, such as“buck” converters, which can have efficiencies of 95% or more with forintegrated circuits, or other highly efficient voltage conversionsystems, including AC to DC converters can alternatively be used. Theimportant aspect to this solution being the conversion, its efficiencyand its compatibility with the particular implementation, not theparticular type of converter that may be used.

FIGS. 23A-23D respectively illustrate, in simplified form, a side,front, back, and schematic representation of a series of printed circuitboards 2310 suitable for use as base units as described herein. Asshown, the printed circuit boards 2310 each include multiple luminaires120, at least one step down transformer 2320, and power rails 2330 and2340 that are used to distribute power from a power supply 2350 (shownonly in the schematic of FIG. 23D) to the luminaires 120. Also as shownin the schematic of FIG. 23D, all of the printed circuit boards 2310 areelectrically daisy chained together by board-to board interconnections2360, 2370 so that each of the luminaires 120 are powered in a parallelcircuit fashion via the rails 2330, 2340, depending upon the particularluminaires and associated circuitry, either directly or indirectly. Asshown, in this variant implementation, the luminaires 120 are notpowered directly from the rails 2330, 2340 so one or more step downtransformers 2320 are mounted on the underside of each printed circuitboard 2310 and used to convert the voltage of the rails 2330 and 2340 tothe appropriate voltage for luminaires 120. As a result, with anappropriate source of power (for example, a power supply 2350) from oneto a large (essentially unlimited) number of printed circuit boards 2310could be electrically daisy chained together for insertion into orwithin a single tube, two or more end-butted tubes, or a series oflongitudinally aligned adjacent tubes.

Alternatively, as long as the previously discussed issues related topower drop are not a significant factor and the power requirements ofthe total number of luminaires 120 is known, then by selecting anappropriate power supply 2350, the use of step down transformers 2320 orother conversion approach could be unnecessary and the rails 2330, 2340could supply power directly to the parallel-connected luminaires 120.Advantageously, the approach that uses one or more step downtransformer(s) 2320 allows varying numbers of printed circuit boards2310 to be connected together in a single implementation configuration,without potentially having to replace or adjust the power supply 2350for each.

Alternatively, with some variant implementations, the power rails orsignal lines could be formed as one or more metallic strips running thelength of a tube on an interior surface thereof, for example, within thesupport channel. Appropriate placed contacts on each base unit boardcould then contact the necessary strip and form a connection thereby.Advantageously, this variant approach provides another way thatdifferent board sizes and board changes in position can be accommodated.

Although there are numerous possibilities for appropriate selection ofthe particular step down transformer(s) 2320, for example, by limitingthe number of luminaires 120 per individual board and the number ofboards that are daisy chained together. With some alternative variants,simple regulators can be mounted directly on the individual printedcircuit boards, without compromising a board's ability to move slidablywithin a tube. Additionally, in some instances it may be desirable tocombine the use of a step down transformer and voltage regulator suchthat the step-down transformer handles gross power management and thevoltage regulator handles fine power management. This pairingadvantageously can result in lower voltage conversion, and consequentlyless heat, and as a byproduct, can also prolong component life.

Advantageously for some implementations, this type variant can providesavings in terms of one or more of: cost, power, heat generation, andthickness relative to current technology, which requires bulky expensiveheat generating switching power supplies to be mounted behind eachdisplay or display matrix.

Within current technology, as displays get larger and larger, in orderto reduce the time spent performing calibration, the size of the displaymatrix and associated switching power suppl(y/ies) increasecommensurately with display size. However, with implementations createdusing the teachings herein successive lighting assemblies are registeredthrough mounting/assembly and the boards are able to move slidablywithin a lighting assembly. As a result, they expand and contract as aunit and it is not necessary to expand the board size beyond that whichcan be controlled by a simple regulator. Thus, in contrast to currenttechnology, board size (length and width) is, for practical purposes,advantageously independent of display size.

Additionally, a further advantage can be achieved in someimplementations if a step down transformer 2320 is a constant current(or voltage) supply. Where this is the case, optionally, the current (orvoltage) could be monitored through the use of known current (orvoltage) monitoring capabilities using an external monitor 2380 or anon-board monitor 2380′ to detect luminaire 120 failures and report anysuch failures to an on-board processing unit 2390 or external processingunit 2390′, which can be configured for automatically reporting statusor periodically polled to obtain status information. The methods ofcommunicating status beyond the tube could, depending upon theparticular implementation, occur through a separate connection, forexample a data or feedback line (not shown), or potentially wirelesslythrough separate communication capabilities internal to, or associatedwith one or more of the tubes.

FIGS. 24A-24C illustrate an alternative variant to that shown in FIGS.23B-23D. As shown, FIGS. 24A-24C are respectively identical to FIGS.23B-23D except that each board further includes an optional back-uppower supply 2400 which could be any means of energy storage such as abattery or a capacitor, typically a supercapacitor (also called anelectric double-layer capacitor, a super cap or ultracapacitor).Supercapacitors bridge the gap between conventional capacitors andrechargeable batteries because they store the most energy per unitvolume or mass (energy density) among capacitors. The addition of theoptional back-up power supply 2400 can allow the display to continue torun for some period of time during a power failure and can also smoothout power demand by handling burst-mode power delivery demands, such aswhen more than a certain amount of luminaires are concurrently orsuddenly turned on.

FIGS. 25A-25C illustrate, in simplified form, a typical prior artfluorescent lighting configuration used to illuminate inventory in atypical store aisle. The lighting is made up of multiple fluorescentlighting fixtures 25 made up of a display support structure 2502configured to accept multiple tube style fluorescent light bulbs 2504, aexternal power wire 2510 through which each fixture 25 receives power,hangers 2520 via which the fixture 25 can be attached to some overheadstructure (not shown) and suspended at a specified distance from theshelves 2506. Since the lighting is made up of multiple individualfixtures 25, there is a dark spot (or lighting non-uniformity) createdat the locations 2530, where each of the light fixtures 25 are endbutted together.

FIGS. 26A-26C illustrate, in simplified form, a lighting assembly 26employing the teachings herein for illuminating the shelves 2506 of thetypical store aisle of FIG. 25A. As with the fixture of FIG. 25, thelighting display is configured to be suspended from an overheadstructure (not shown) at a specified distance from the shelves byhangers 2620 on one or more supporting structures 2600 to which tubes2640 of the lighting assembly 26 are attached via some form ofattachment aid 2610. As shown, the lighting assembly 26 is made up ofmultiple continuous tubes as described herein with adjacent tubes 2640being interconnected such that, together, they have enough structuralrigidity to significantly support themselves. Advantageously, and insharp contrast to the fixtures 25 of FIGS. 25A-25C, the supportstructures 2600 used with the lighting assembly constructed according tothe teachings herein do not need to cover the length of the entirelighting assembly 26, they need only be placed at sufficient locationsas is necessary to provide overall support for the weight of thelighting assembly 26 and avoid undesirable sagging at intermediatepoints that could result from the extended length. Additionally, andadvantageously, it should be evident that, through use of the teachingsherein, the lighting assembly 26 does not have the dark spot (orlighting non-uniformity) locations 2530 present with the fixtures ofFIG. 25. In addition, instead of having exposed power wires 2510interconnected on the back of each fixture, the lighting assembly 26daisy chains the power connection on the end of each tube which caneasily be covered by a nominal cap 2650 and, thereby, merely has asingle exposed power wire 2660 for the entire lighting assembly 26 atthe end of one of the tubes 2640.

FIG. 27A-27D illustrate, in simplified form, end views of a fewdifferent configuration lighting fixtures that can be created using theteachings herein. In that regard, FIG. 27A is an end view of thelighting assembly 26 of FIGS. 26A-26C showing that the four identicaltubes 2640 are connected to a support structure 2600 such that they forma planar fixture configuration. FIG. 27B illustrates, in simplifiedform, an end view of a lighting assembly 27 made up of two sets of tubes(i.e. eight tubes) from the fixture of FIG. 27A that are interconnectedto each other and, by virtue of the shape of the support structure 2600′to which they are attached, they form a convex lighting configuration.FIG. 27C illustrates, in simplified form, a fixture 27′ that issubstantially identical to the fixture of FIG. 27B except that, due tothe structural support provided by the interconnection between adjacentunits, it is not necessary to use an attachment aid 2610 with every tube2640, and one tube 2640 has been replaced with a light assembly 19 asdescribed in connection with FIG. 19 to show that, applying theteachings described herein, it is advantageously possible to mix andmatch lighting assemblies that have matching interconnections. Likewise,although not shown in this figure, it is possible to mix and matchdifferent configuration base units 110 among any tube configurationsdimensionally capable of accepting them.

FIG. 27D illustrates, in simplified form, the light assembly 27 of FIG.27B coupled to a different support structure 2600″ so as to now form aconcave lighting configuration. In addition, and similar to theconfiguration of FIG. 27C, due to the structural support provided by theinterconnection between adjacent units, it is not necessary to use andattachment aid 2610 with every tube 2640.

Of course, it should be understood that the tubes 2640 could havealternatively been connected directly to the ceiling or to a supportstructure mounted to the ceiling. Advantageously it should beappreciated that, using the teachings herein, such a configuration(particularly a direct-to-ceiling connection) is made easier by the factthat there is no need to run power connections to particular parts ofthe ceiling, there is no multitude of external wires to be accommodated,and a more aesthetically appealing appearance can be created because thetubes can extend, without a break, over the entire length or width ofthe room of desired.

FIG. 28 illustrates, in simplified form, an example use for the lightingassembly 27 of FIG. 27D, namely to provide uniform artificial lightingfor plants 2800 in a greenhouse.

Up to now, all of the tube configurations have been shown longitudinallyarranged horizontally on a vertical support. However, this is not arequirement at all. As noted above, by employing the teachings containedherein, billboards can be created with vertically aligned tubes,allowing them to be serviced from the bottom, the top or both, dependingupon the particular implementation. However, it should be appreciatedthat tubes implemented according to the teachings herein can likewise beused to create an illuminated wall and, advantageously, by orienting thetubes vertically, ones with curved or undulating shapes. Similarly,since the tubes can be formed in virtually any length, even though theymay be oriented vertically, they can more easily accommodate unusual, ornon-standard changes in, ceiling heights. As such, illuminated verticalwalls or displays can be constructed for a particular application,potentially faster and at lower cost than could be done using currenttechnology.

FIGS. 29A-29B illustrates, in simplified form, a representative examplemulti-curved vertical structure formed using multiple tubes 2900constructed according to the teachings herein. As shown in FIG. 29B,depending upon the particular implementation and in sharp contrast toconventional current technology, the tubes 2900 can advantageously bemaintained in place merely by moulding or trim 2910, 2920 on the upperand lower ends of the tubes 2900 or, alternatively, to an underlyingsupport 2902 using one of the approaches described herein or, owing tothe nature of this approach (and again in sharp contrast to conventionaltechnology), something as simple as double sided tape or magneticattachments. Moreover, in contrast to conventional technology, with thisapproach, an illuminating wall created using tubes according to theteachings herein need not rely upon a power connection being in anyparticular location because the daisy chain interconnection can allowfor a power connection to be located virtually any where, providinggreater freedom of placement, while avoiding the need to potentiallyobscure unsightly power cords running between a power outlet and thedesired location of the illuminating wall. This makes illuminating wallsconstructed according to the teachings herein much more usable forconstructing displays in large open areas like convention centers andhotel ballrooms than can be done using conventional technology.

To further show the application versatility obtainable by using theteachings herein over and above the previously described applications,some other applications will now be described, bearing in mind thatthese applications are only representative examples of the potentiallylimitless ways that the instant teachings can be employed.

FIG. 30A illustrates, in simplified form, another example applicationemploying the teachings herein, as flag type signage or display 3000. Asshown, the signage or display 3000 is made up of multiple tubes 3002,constructed as described herein hanging from a support structure 3006.FIGS. 30B-30C respectively illustrate, in greater detail, aspects of thesignage or display 3000 of FIG. 30A from the front and one side. Asshown in FIG. 30B, some of the tubes 3002, 3002′ contain printed circuitboards 110, 110A (only one of which is visible in this view) withluminaires 120 arranged such that they are equally spaced, on-center,within each tube 3002 and between adjacent tubes 3002. The uppermosttube 3002 is attached to a pole 3040 of the support structure 3006 bypole hangers 3030 that interconnect with one of the attachmentextensions 3003, 3005 on the tube 3002. The next tube 3002 is connectedto the first tube 3002 in a hanging manner using the mating attachmentextension 3003, 3005, and subsequent tubes 3002 are interconnected in asimilar manner. Additionally, as shown in FIGS. 30B-30C, the signage ordisplay 3000 is not limited to incorporating tubes as described herein.Specifically, in this case, the signage or display 3000 includes otherconnector panels 3010, 3020. These connector panels 3010, 3020interconnect to adjacent tubes using the attachment extensions and canbe used for other purposes, for example, they can be partly or whollyopaque to contain non-changing printed information like a phone number,they can be transparent 3010, which might be useful in instances whereit is desirable to allow through-viewing, such as when the signage ordisplay 3000 is outside of a windowed building, they can be constructedas panels 3020 with through holes, which might be useful in instanceswhere it is desirable to allow air to pass through, such as when thesignage or display 3000 will be subject to significant winds such as alarge flag display or when placed on the outside of an open air parkingdeck or spanning a gap between buildings, they could also be constructedto contain photovoltaic cells, also commonly interchangeably referred toas solar cells that are used to power some or all of the signage ordisplay 3000.

Normally connector panels would have the same attachment extensions maleand female (for example, as shown on one connector panel 3020) aswhatever lighting assembly tubes they were interconnecting with.However, it should be understood that same type attachment extensionsare also anticipated, on the tubes or connector panels (for example, asshown on another connector panel 3010, which has two male attachmentextensions), such that direction of subsequent lighting assemblies willbe reversed. Likewise, tubes and adapter connector panels can be usedthat have one form of attachment extension on one side and a different,non-compatible version on the other side, in order to allow typicallynon-compatible lighting assemblies to be interconnected. Thus, it shouldbe appreciated that the use of attachment extensions can provideenhanced flexibility in the way tubes are attached to each other orother elements.

In FIG. 30C it can also be seen that connector panels can also serve asa way to change the lighting assembly components of a display from onelighting assembly type to another. For example, as shown one connectorpanel 3010 is connected to one lighting assembly 30 on one side and toanother lighting assembly 30′ on the other, which can be the same typeof assembly, a different type of assembly, or some other elemententirely, including, for example, another connector panel or aconventional sign. Connector panel 3020 is connected to lightingassembly 30′ on both sides.

As shown, the lighting assemblies 30, 30′ are similar except that thetube 3002 of one lighting assembly 30 has two attachment extensions3003, 3005 and the tube 3002′ of the other lighting assembly 30′ has asingle attachment extension 3003′ and an internal cavity 3005′.

Using one or more internal cavities in combination with one or moreattachment extensions is advantageous in that it enables adjacent tubesto be interconnected closer together. Alternatively, a given tube couldbe constructed to only have internal cavities and an appropriateconnector panel could be used connect that tube to something else.

Additionally, as can be seen in FIG. 30C, the tubes 3002 of thisimplementation are configured for creating a two-sided display with twoprinted circuit boards 110, 110A inserted so that they are facing inopposite directions. Other options for a two-sided display can involvehaving double-sided base units or alternating the direction of everyother base unit or lighting assembly.

While it is anticipated that external line power (not shown) may besupplied to the flag type display, in some cases, the pole 3040 couldhouse battery storage or the display can be equipped with an externalsolar panel (not shown) in order to be self-contained.

FIGS. 31A-31C illustrate, in simplified form, an edge and two frontviews, respectively, of multiple iterations of another variant type baseunit 3110 that, in addition to the luminaires 120, include multiplesolar cells 3120 on the front face of the unit 3110 and a rechargeablepower storage unit 3130 on the opposite face of the unit 3110.Advantageously, with this configuration the solar cells 3120 can supplypower to the luminaires 120, in whole or part, and/or to therechargeable storage unit 3130 to reduce or eliminate the need for anexternal power source for the display. FIG. 31C illustrates, insimplified form, the base units 3110 of FIGS. 31A-31B mounted in thetubes 700 of FIG. 7. FIG. 31D illustrates, in simplified form, analternative lighting assembly 31 incorporating the base units 3110 ofFIGS. 31A-31B. As shown in FIG. 31D, each tube 3100 includes two printedcircuit board base units 3110, 3110A, which, depending upon theparticular implementation could be identical to each other or mirrorimages of each other.

At this point, it should be understood that, although up to now the baseunits have all been described as having at least one luminaire 120thereon, this need not be the case for all base units. In someimplementations, it may be desirable to have one or more base units thatdo not have any luminaires 120 on them at all. Rather, for thoseimplementations, it may be beneficial to have base units that contain,for example, one or more of: solar cells, batteries or other storage,wireless transmitter circuitry, wireless receiver circuitry, processingcapability (e.g. one or more microprocessors or state machines) andassociated program and/or data storage in the form of RAM or ROM, orsimply additional electrical circuitry.

FIGS. 32A-32B, illustrate, in simplified form, a front and side view,respectively, of one such example implementation of a lighting assembly32 using such an approach. As shown in FIGS. 32A-32B, the alternatingtubes 3200, 3202 respectively contain a base unit 110 having luminaires120 thereon and a base unit 3210 that lacks luminaires but includessolar cells 3220 on one side and some form of rechargeable storage 3230on the other. In addition, two different tubes 3200, 3202 are used withone tube 3200 formed so that it has a louver 3240 on each side designedto block the sun from hitting the luminaires 120, while the tubes 3202containing the base units 3210 containing the solar cells 3220 lack anylouvers because they would reduce or block light from impinging on thesolar cells 3220.

Additionally, assuming some power storage is provided either separatelyor on the boards themselves, that storage could be utilized to collectand store power during off peak hours for use during peak hours. Sincethe cost of energy is much cheaper during off peak hours, this couldgreatly reduce the cost of operating a system incorporating teachingscontained herein.

FIGS. 33A-33C, illustrate, in simplified form, a representative exampleof the foregoing approach that incorporates solar cells into thelouvers. A tube 3300 is created with hollow louvers 3302 with interiordimensions sufficient to slidingly accept base units 3310 having solarcells 3330 thereon (FIG. 33A) into the interior, such as shown in FIG.33C. The remainder of the tube is configured in a manner describedherein so that it can accept, as shown in FIGS. 33B and 33C, multipleinterconnected printed circuit boards 3110 and 3110A having multipleluminaires 120 thereon, in addition to the interconnected solarcell-bearing circuit boards 3310 inserted into translucent tube 3300. Inthis manner, the opacity of the base units 3310 perform the lightblocking louver function while additionally collecting energy fromimpinging light. A further advantage to using tubes constructedaccording to the teachings herein is that inserted base unit(s) willrender the louver opaque relative to the luminaires while being able tocollect energy from impinging light. Depending upon the particularimplementation, such an approach might mean that there would be no needfor separate tubes to house solar cell containing base units (such as inFIGS. 32A and 32B).

For purposes of this example, the printed circuit boards 3110, 3110Aoptionally contain rechargeable storage units 3130; however, this is nota requirement. Nevertheless, in this particular case, such storage units3130 can advantageously be connected to the solar cells in the louversfor additional charging power or the output of the interconnectedcircuit boards 3310 could feed directly into the power supply lines ofthe luminaire-containing printed circuit boards 3110, 3110A.Consequently, for implementations where solar cells on the printedcircuit boards 3110, 3110A cannot themselves supply sufficient power forthe particular application, the additional solar cells 3330 on thelouvers 3302 can be used to augment that power and, in cases where theboards 3110, 3110A have their own rechargeable storage units 3130 andthe combined power that can be collected using the solar cells cansatisfy the luminaires' 120 requirements, no external energy sourcewould be needed.

As briefly discussed previously, conventional lighting configurationsare not very good at creating displays of uniform brightness. Incontrast, by employing the teachings, displays having superioruniformity in brightness can readily be constructed. This aspect willnow be discussed in greater detail.

FIG. 34 illustrates, in simplified form, one example prior art attemptto make a uniform brightness lighting display using multiple fluorescenttubes 3402. As shown, this configuration includes an area 3400 where thetubes 3402 of the lighting fixtures overlap in order to try tocompensate for dark (non-uniform) spots typically created when suchlighting fixtures are end butted together. While this configuration maybe an improvement over the end butted configuration, overlapping thebulbs overcompensates by creating bright spots, which although moredesirable than dark spots, still fails to achieve a truly uniformlighting display.

FIGS. 35A-35C illustrate, in simplified form, a prior art alternativeattempt to make a uniform lighting display using a standard displaymatrix. With this prior art approach, as shown in FIG. 35A, a displaymatrix 35 is created by mounting multiple LEDs 3502 in an arrayconfiguration onto a circuit board 3504 such that they are all connectedto, and can be powered via, a board connector 3506. As shown in FIG.35B, the display matrix 35 (as shown made up of a 5×5 array of LEDs) isthen inserted into a frame 3510, and an epoxy 3520 is flowed into theframe via a nozzle 3530 to encapsulate the board 3504 and the LEDs so asto form a unitary framed assembly 35′. As shown in FIG. 35B multipleframed assemblies 35′ are then attached together via a underlyingcarrier, circuit board or support 3508 to create a larger display suchas shown in front view in FIG. 35C. Alternatively, depending upon theparticular prior art approach, the epoxy encapsulation can be held offuntil multiple boards 3504 have been attached to the underlying carrier,circuit board or support 3508. This alternative is represented in FIG.35C wherein all but the upper center framed assemblies have already beenepoxied and the upper center framed assembly is in the process of beingflowed with epoxy 3520 via the nozzle 3530.

As each, or once all, of the assemblies 35′ are thus formed, they areindividually calibrated and can be used as part of a larger display. Inpractice, the individual calibration of the frames is a very timeconsuming and tedious task, adding cost in terms of time and/ormanpower. Notably, the need for framing also limits the maximum boarddensity and necessitates additional connectors and adds extra wiring.Not only is this extra wiring expensive, but it can add significantweight to a large display, further necessitating stronger supportingstructures (adding additional cost), potentially limiting overall sizefor a given application or location, and potentially requiringadditional manpower and/or expensive machinery to install on location.

While in some respects, the modularity of this prior art approach allowsdesign engineers to approach design of a large system by replicatingmany smaller systems. The modular approach has disadvantages,particularly where graphical displays for the purpose of displayingvideo are created, because each module will have to be identical andhave its own separate display driver(s) and potentially other circuitelements that add weight, cost, and points of potential failure.

To illustrate this problem inherent in prior art displays, FIGS. 36A-36Billustrate, in simplified form, a prior art attempt to make a uniform10×50 element lighting display 3600 using a standard display matrix,such as the matrix 35′ of FIG. 35B. As shown in FIG. 35A, are arrangedin a columnar fashion of two matrix 35′ units across and ten matrix 35′units down. FIG. 36B is a right side view of the array of FIG. 36A. Inthis view, the framed assemblies 35′ are visible with the boardconnectors 3506 of the assemblies 35′ for the far column inserted intoconnectors 3610 of one side of a transformer 3630 and board connectors3506 of the assemblies 35′ for the near column inserted into connectors3620 on another side of the transformer 3630. Notably, although theprior art display of FIGS. 36A-36B show multiple assemblies 35′ sharingan individual transformer 3630, in practice, as the framed assembliesget larger and larger, each framed module may need to have its owntransformer 3630. As is well known, transformers are generally heavy,potentially undesirably noisy, and they give off significant heat. Incontrast, using the teachings herein, a lighter, more compact display ofthe same 10×50 size can be created that costs less than its prior artcounterpart above and can be assembled faster and easier.

FIGS. 37A-37B illustrate, in simplified form, a front and right sideview of a 10×50 lighting display 3700 constructed using the teachingscontained herein to create a display that is lighter, cheaper, morequickly and easily assembled and produces more uniform lighting than the10×50 display of FIGS. 36A-36B. As shown in FIGS. 27A-27B, the display3700 is made up of 10 columns of individual tubes 37 each having thereina set of interconnected base units 3702 with luminaires 120 thereon suchthat they form linear array of fifty luminaires 120 per tube 37.Consistent with the teachings herein, only the bottom base unit 3702 ineach tube 37 is connected to a transformer 3730 via a connector 3710. Asa result, even though this figure shows two tubes sharing a singletransformer 3730, this configuration uses far less transformers than theprior art configuration of FIGS. 36A-36B for a significant weightsavings. Moreover, by using some of the teachings herein, each tube (inits fully functional form) or the entire array could have been moreeasily constructed off-site of the installation location and thentransported to the site for installation. Likewise, from the side viewof FIG. 37B, it should be evident that less wiring is required for thisconfiguration due to the use of the board-to-board connectors 400, 410.Moreover, and most advantageously, if a base unit 3702 (or portionthereof) should fail, it can easily and quickly be serviced from an endof its tube 37 and a transformer 3730 failure could be easily servicedwithout disassembly of any of he lighting portion of the display 3700,whereas, to service a failure of a lighting element or a transformer onany assembly 35′ in the display of FIG. 36A-36B, could require accessfrom the back, front, or possibly both. The advantage provided by usingthe teachings herein could be very significant if such a display was abillboard or wallscape high up on a building. Indeed, with many displayscreated according to the teachings herein, the transformers could belocated inside the building (making them less susceptible to bothweather and temperature fluctuations that tend to reduce their life) orin an external cabinet that is readily accessible from inside thebuilding, for example, via a window (making servicing considerably saferand easier). Still further, as should be evident from a comparison ofFIGS. 36A-36B with FIGS. 37A-37B, using the teachings herein, an “M byN” array using the same luminaire elements can be thinner in overalldepth than could be created using the prior art approach. A furtherdrawback to the prior art modular display creation approach describedabove, is that it is difficult to efficiently match current draw ofindividual modules with transformer capability, particularly if onewants to reduce the number of transformers. That is because, using theprior art modular approach, it is not generally possible to fit thenumber of LEDs in a single module that are needed to take advantage ofthe full capacity of the associated transformer. Moreover, that problemcannot easily be addressed except by standardizing each particularmodule size (in terms of number of LEDs and their maximum power draw) asequal to, or some even fraction of, the power capability of thetransformer with which it will be used. For example, FIG. 38illustrates, in simplified form, a schematic of a 10×10 lighting displayconstructed using four of the standard display matrix units 35′ of FIG.35B. Unless the maximum power that could be drawn by each unit 35′ ofFIG. 38 was ¼ of the power that could be supplied by the power supply3630 via the rails 3860, 3870, the transformer 3630 would always beunderutilized. Moreover, the overall display length and width mustalways be an even multiple of the length and width of the modules. Incontrast, as shown in FIGS. 39A-39C, using the teachings herein, sinceit is possible to make tubes of any length and easy to fill a tube withdifferent length base units having different numbers of luminaires thatall share a common set of power rails 3960, 3970 through which atransformer 3930 can supply power, it is easier to create any desireddisplay size while concurrently matching the number of requiredtransformers or their capability to maximize efficiency or minimizeunused power supply capability.

Up to now, many of the variant applications involved creating displaysthat provide uniform light. When creating such uniform lightingdisplays, such as described above, advantageously, any or all of thebase units can be essentially interchangeable. This is not true however,when creating a large graphic display, for example, a digital billboard,that can display a static graphic image that changes or cycles withother images after some period if time, and/or can display video, sinceeach board will potentially be displaying independent content and needto have some form of addressing scheme to enable the proper componentsto be lit in the proper way at the proper time.

The traditional approach for such displays is to hardwire each boardwith an address and to provide instructions or data related to what isto be displayed to each board on an address specific basis. While thisapproach makes sense and can certainly be used to create large graphicdisplays using tubes constructed according to the teachings herein suchan approach requires each base unit to have a fixed or settable addressor address range. As a result, if a base unit fails, a new unit must beused that has the same address/address range or can be set to thataddress or address range.

Alternatively, base units can be created for use as described hereinthat incorporate self-addressing such that, an individual base unit canbe used in any location within the display because, only after the baseunit is installed, will it be associated with a particular address oraddress range. U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,059 and U.S. Reissue application Ser.No. 13/921,907, both incorporated herein by reference in their entiretyas if fully set forth herein, disclose systems and methods for creatingand using wired and wireless self-addressing control units both with andwithout feedback. Advantageously, self-addressing control unitsconstructed according to the teachings therein can be used inconjunction with the teachings herein to create graphic displays fromidentical base units as described herein. In this regard, U.S. Pat No.8,214,059 and Reissue application Ser. No. 13/921,907 both specificallyteach a circuit for addressing control units wherein two or three wiresare used to control the units and the data flow to the units. Each ofthe control units self-addresses upon system startup. This isaccomplished by each unit checking its ID number by looking at the IDnumber of the unit in front of it and adding a one to that number andstoring that number in a permanent nonvolatile memory establishing itsID. This happens down the line and accordingly, an infinite amount ofsequential control units can self-identify within the system.Thereafter, once the unit knows its ID number, it watches a mainbroadcast wire or fiber optic link or radio link or other communicationmeans for its ID number. When it sees its ID number, it reads and usesthe block of data that follows that ID number. Accordingly, if any ofthe control units should fail, the remainder of the units are able tofunction independent of the failed unit. Additionally, a failed unit canbe replaced by any other operable unit, even one already in the systemwith another assigned number, and the replacement unit willappropriately address itself and will be active in the system. In thisway a system of many control units or parallel computers is created,which units self-address and are able to look to a broadcast line forrelevant data directed to them and perform a task as a collective unit.

Some of the immediately following descriptions will now describe variousforms of self-addressing and example applications of those approaches.In connection with those discussions and illustrations, reference willbe made to wiring representing certain signal lines, e.g. data and/oraddress lines in the singular for simplicity. However, it is to beunderstood that the reference to any such signal “line” is intended toencompass a single, serial, path as well as a parallel path, a pathconfigured with a single wire, multiple wires in a ribbon or coaxialform, a wired bus, optical fibers, or any other physical signaltransmission path usable under the circumstances through the applicationof ordinary skill. Likewise, the reference to wireless transmission ofinformation is intended to encompass any wireless transmission methodand/or protocol usable under the circumstances through the applicationof ordinary skill.

FIGS. 40A-40B illustrate, in simplified form, a self-addressing systemas disclosed in incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,059 and incorporatedReissue application Ser. No. 13/921,907. Specifically, FIG. 40A shows anexample implementation a wired version of a self-addressing systemhaving a data line but no feedback line and FIG. 40B shows a similarsystem having a data line and a feedback line. Similarly, FIGS. 41A-41Brespectively illustrate, in simplified form, a wireless version of theself-addressing system incorporated by reference, both without afeedback line (FIG. 41A) and with a feedback line (FIG. 41B).

For use according to the teachings herein, variants of the systems andmethods described in incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,059 andincorporated Reissue application Ser. No. 13/921,907 will be implementedin constructing a base unit but generally, instead of adding “1” to theID number, adds some constant value to the address, for example a binaryvalue, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., an octal value, a decimal value, etc.or applies a particular algorithm to or based upon the address, or usesa table search using or based upon the address to obtain its address(i.e. self-address). Depending upon the particular implementation, thiswill allow for the ID number to serve as an address, with values betweenone base unit and the next base unit forming a range of on boardaddresses for each base unit. For example, if a base unit only carriesone luminaire made up of 4 LEDs of different colors: red, green, blueand white, and its ID number is “8”, a constant of five could be addedfor the next (and each successive) base unit so that on this base unit,the address “9” could be assigned to the red LED, the address “10” couldbe assigned to the green LED, the address “11” could be assigned to theblue LED and the address “12” could be assigned to the white LED. Inthis manner, the control unit would look for either its ID number of “8”or an ID number equal to “8” or less than “13” such that the individualcolored LEDs could be directly addressed or addressed as an ID numberplus an offset. Alternatively, the incrementing could still be anyconstant, but data associated with that address would establish which ofthe LED(s) to turn on.

While the ability described in incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,059 andincorporated Reissue application Ser. No. 13/921,907 to look to abroadcast line to trap relevant data directed to each of the units ispowerful in and of itself, as the size of the display increases, thenumber of units in series will similarly increase. As the number ofunits in series increases, at some point this can have a detrimentalimpact on the system's ability to send all of the instructions necessaryfor proper display in a timely fashion. For instance, with a largenumber of base units operating as described in incorporated U.S. Pat.No. 8,214,059 and incorporated Reissue application Ser. No. 13/921,907or a variant thereof described herein, sending all of the data necessarydown a physical data line may be acceptable for a marquee type scrollingdisplay, but is not likely sufficient to display video on a very largedisplay.

In such a situation, rather than just sending the data down one piece ata time to each unit, all of the data necessary to display an entirevideo (or some portion thereof) could be initially sent down the dataline and stored in each unit in associated memory or a suitably sizedbuffer. Depending upon the particular information, the data could alsoinclude additional information such as frame number. Then the addressedbase units would either listen for a synchronization pulse and outputthe graphical display associated with the frames one at a time insequence or, if available, listen for a frame number and output thegraphical display associated with the matching frame number.

As the number of units grows, depending on the frame rate and the lengthrequired for a physical data line, it may be necessary or desirable touse the same technique but wirelessly, in order to produce the desiredquality due while avoiding the latency caused by physical propagationdelays. With wireless data transmission, all units could receive thesynchronization or frame number information substantially concurrently(i.e., without experiencing a propagation delay that could have asignificant impact on display quality).

The technique of multiple base units making up a graphical displayreceiving information for which they can establish an initial address,store that address in memory, and then listen for broadcast instructionscombined with the sending and storing of video, which may includeadditional information such as frame number, and then having theself-addressed units either listen for a synchronization pulse andoutput the graphical display associated with the frames one at a timeor, if available, listen for a frame number and output the graphicaldisplay associated with the matching frame number is extremely powerfuland has numerous applications beyond graphical displays like electronicbillboards and wallscape displays and, in some cases, need not requirespecifically constructed base units. This combined technique willhereafter be referred to as “synchronized stored video” and, dependingupon the particular implementation, can be operated wirelessly, througha physical data line, or some combination of both. One exampleapplication for which synchronized stored video could be used is in aconcert to turn attendee's smart phones into parts of a giant ad hocgraphical display unit. In this particular case, if the seating in theconcert location is fixed, then the video could be “overlayed” on top ofthe seating layout such that each seat would correspond to some knownportion of the display “screen.” Thus, the address that would be storedby each phone would correspond to the seat number on the ticket (oralternative representation of that location). Prior to the concertstarting each attendee would be prompted to download an application(which might be persistent, temporary or concert specific) which would,in turn download some portion of (or the entire) video corresponding tothat particular address (e.g. seat location). During the concert,attendees could then be prompted to start the application and hold uptheir smart phones which would listen for, for example, asynchronization pulse or frame number broadcast, for example, using, forexample, the Bluetooth wireless data exchange standard, WiFi, WiMAX, 4GLTE, 5G data, etc. or any other smart phone-implemented datacommunication approach (the important aspect being the communication ofdata, not the standard by which it is communicated), and output theirassociated stored graphic display information.

Note here that the storage of a seat number or other location identifieris a special form of self-addressing not previously disclosed inincorporated U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,059 and incorporated Reissueapplication Ser. No. 13/921,907, which is independent self-addressing.With independent self-addressing, an actual physical location is able tobe independently determined for the unit itself, without reliance on therest of the components of the system, for example, the physicalcoordinates may be determined using, for example, built-in or associatedGPS capabilities. In the concert example above, it is unnecessary forthe units to pass address information between each other in order toestablish a self-address. In this case, the self-addressing can be basedupon the user inputting a physical location (seat number or otherrepresentative location identifier), which may be transitory or onlyapplicable within some limited time period (e.g. during that particularconcert for that user's specific location), so it is completely separatefrom any fixed addressing that has already been established for thephone (e.g. the phone number associated with, for example, itssubscriber identity module or subscriber identification module (SIM)card). Advantageously, since the physical location of any particularuser can be independently established, without communicating betweenunits, whether or not someone is in the seat next to the user has nobearing on whether self-addressing can occur. Moreover, as opposed tofixed addressing, which, as its name implies, is typically pre-set andfixed, with independent self-addressing, the self-address will change asthe location changes.

Further it should be understood that, in general, with the technique ofsynchronized stored video, the information stored in any individualaddressed unit can be, depending upon implementation and/or intendedapplication, any of: only the information that corresponds to aparticular address, some portion or the entire video for all addresses,or the information associated with one or more address in closeproximity (e.g. the two or three addresses that either proceed or followit). The latter two can advantageously be useful, in the case of when aboard is damaged and needs to be replaced. Adding the ability to notonly send information that can be used to establish a new address butalso communicating through that same address line what to display whenthe unit hears the synchronization pulse (or frame information), meansthat a failure of a given base unit in the system could be repairedwithout having to rebroadcast the data to all units. Advantageously,following repair/replacement the fixed or replacement base unit couldsimply receive all the appropriate data it needs from the unit in frontof or behind it.

Alternatively, with an implementation variant that uses wireless datatransmission, it is also possible to receive live broadcast video datawithout the need to receive and store the video ahead of time.

FIG. 42 illustrates, in simplified form, a schematic blockrepresentation of one representative example self-addressing radiocontroller repeater 42 capable of either capturing live video data orperforming synchronized stored video and its contents, the functions ofwhich are represented in the more detailed expanded representation andwhich would likely be implemented as a chip set 4200.

As shown, the chip set example representation 4200 includes componentscapable of performing numerous functions that range from graphicaldisplays to non-display applications like coordinating synchronizedmovement a swarm of self-controlled or autonomous devices like robots,unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), mini or micro UAVs. Depending on thecapabilities required for a particular application, it is to beunderstood that the represented chip set 4200 could be modified,expanded or reduced as necessary. For purposes of understanding thedescription herein (particularly the operational description thatfollows), at the very least, the self-addressing radio controllerrepeater 42 of FIG. 42 needs a microcontroller 4202, a crystal clock4204, I/O Ports 4206, and a source of power 4210. In the case of thechip set 4200 of FIG. 42, power is shown as coming from two channels: 1)a capacitor or ULTRA CAP or Battery 4212 and 2) LINE Power 4210; howeveronly a single source is necessary and, as previously discussed, powercould be supplied by solar cells either on the base units containing aself-addressing radio controller repeater 42, from separate solar cellpanels, and/or incorporated into, for example, one or more louvers.

For further purposes of understanding the description herein (andparticularly the relevant description that follows) the self-addressingradio controller repeater 42 should also include: address IN port(s)4208, address OUT port(s) 4214, and memory 4216 capable of storing anaddress. As shown, the memory 4216 is identified in FIG. 42 asnonvolatile memory. This is because nonvolatile memory allows one toperform repairs without the system needing to readdress itself. However,it is to be understood that the memory 4216 could alternatively bevolatile memory or some combination of nonvolatile and volatile memory.

Alternately, for a non-self-addressing chip set (i.e. one with hard(i.e. fixed or physically settable) addressing) these features could bereplaced by, for example, physical hard wiring of an address into a dataport of the microcontroller, dip switches settable by a field technicianwired into a data port of the microcontroller, or a fixed addresswritten into code or burned into some form of Read Only Memory (ROM).

The address OUT ports are labeled as “X”, “Y”, “Z”, etc . . . in FIG.42. The purpose of this is to indicate both that there are multipleaddress OUT ports but also that they can individually transmit addressesfor different dimensions. For example, with “X”, “Y” & “Z” addresses inthree-dimensional space can be represented using Cartesian coordinatescheme, or as values according to, for example, a polar, spherical orcylindrical coordinate system or any other coordinate system appropriatefor the particular implementation, the only requirement being thatsufficient address OUT ports are available to transmit the informationneeded to represent a given location using that coordinate scheme andthat the receivers are capable of understanding information sent outaccording to that coordinate system. The inclusion of multi-dimensionaladdress transmission allows for the creation of not only linearself-addressing arrays but also multi-dimensional self-addressingconfigurations.

While there are multiple address OUT ports there does not need to be anequivalent number of address IN ports. This is because, it is generallyexpected that the address IN information would typically be read from asingle direction/channel. However, there is no technical reason why avariant could not be straightforwardly implemented according to theteachings herein that could have multiple address IN ports and receivemultiple addresses in different dimensions or according to a definedcoordinate scheme. For instance, in addressing a swarm of collectivelymoving self-controlled or autonomous devices, it may be more efficientto initiate self-addressing with several of the devices simultaneouslyat different locations around the periphery of the swarm and, as such,having multiple input lines configured as a multi-dimensional address INcould be beneficial. In such a case, the calculated address stored innonvolatile memory of each device could either be a combination of theaddress IN information from multiple dimensions or a calculated addresscould be generated and separately stored from the information receivedfor each dimension.

For configurations of displays or other devices that may be constructedaccording to teachings herein that use wired self-addressing, thatself-addressing could be accomplished, for example through separateaddress ports, one of the I/O ports, or through wired communicationports 4218 configured according to, for example, a known standard suchas RS 232, Ethernet, or USB. In this regard, it should be understoodthat the wired communication ports of FIG. 42 are representative oftypical, known communication channels for purposes of understanding. Itis to be understood that other communications schemes, whether standardor proprietary can be used to the same or similar effect forcommunicating addresses, data and/or feedback, again, the importantaspect being the ability to communicate, not the particular connector orprotocol used.

At present, if wireless data receipt (or transmission from a mastercontrol unit) is to be used, it is accomplished by one or more wirelessdata transmission channels. In that regard, the chip set 4200 is shown,for purposes of example only, as including a standard wirelesscommunication channel of cell phone implementing, for example, 3G, 4G,4G LTE, 5G, etc. (e.g. Telit cg 869-XXX Huawei Mc323 M2M), WiFi,BlueTooth, 802.15.4, ZigBee 2007, ZigBee Pro, ZigBee SCoP (ZIPT), G Lo WP A N, Generic ZigBee Cluster Library, ZENA microchips, MRF24J40MB,etc.) Alternatively or additionally, depending upon the particularimplementation, short-range communication technologies, such asinfrared, and/or other medium and long-range wireless communicationchannels and standard or proprietary protocols can be used.

Moreover, by selecting a microcontroller 4202 with appropriateprocessing power, the chip set 4200 can also straightforwardly becoupled to a camera or other image capture equipment to capture livevideo data and output it appropriately.

In addition, although wireless data reception is possible through asingle wireless data transmission channel, for many implementationsconstructed according to the teachings herein, it will be desirable tohave multiple data channels due to the fact that, in some cases, not alldata channels will be available in all locations or, if they areavailable, there may be, for example, too much external noise on aparticular channel to make it usable under the circumstances. Therefore,the ability to select from among multiple wireless data channels can bea desirable additional optional feature and could be accomplished, forexample, through channel hoping with parity checks between the slavesand master using a step down hand shaking protocol or any otherapplication-suitable approach, again the important aspect being theavailability of different wireless communication channels, not theparticular type of channel or protocol that may be used.

In order to perform synchronized stored video on a graphic display, theonly change is that the memory needs to be of sufficient size to storethe received video data. At this point, it is worth noting that, forthis particular application, using nonvolatile memory for address anddata is more desirable than using volatile memory from the standpoint ofpotential base unit repair and/or replacement. If volatile memory isused, powering down of a set of interconnected base units would cause aloss of whatever was in the volatile memory of all the powered-downunits, not just the one(s) that needed repair or replacement. As aresult, following repair or replacement of a specific base unit, everybase unit in the row or column of the display (depending upon how thetubes are oriented to create the display) that lost power would need tohave its data re-sent rather than just the repaired or replacement unitbeing installed. In contrast, by using nonvolatile memory, the addressand/or data stored in the adjacent base units would not be affected bythe power down to repair and/or replace any failed base unit(s) and thenewly repaired or replacement unit could receive the necessary addressand/or data from its closest neighbor(s) through the appropriate addressIN and/or data port(s).

FIG. 43 illustrates, in simplified form, an arrangement of base units4302-1, 4302-2, 4302-3, 4302-4, 4302-5, within a graphic display 4300constructed according to the teachings herein. As shown, the first baseunit 4302-1 is a master control unit, which is electronically connectedto the address port of the next base unit 4302-2 in the series. Thatbase unit 4302-2 is similarly electronically connected to the addressport of the next base unit 4302-3 in the series and so forth. As shown,the electronic connection between both the master control unit 4302-1and the next base unit 4302-2, as well as the connection betweensubsequent base units 4302-3, 4302-4, 4302-5, is shown as a one-way dataconnection, as it provides electrical isolation between chip sets.However, for other implementations, this could alternatively be atwo-way data connection.

The master control unit 4302-1 has the ability to wirelessly broadcastaddressed data packets, receive feedback wirelessly and transmit anaddress to and from each of the other base units 4302-2, 4302-3, 4302-4,4302-5.

The other base units 4302-2, 4302-3, 4302-4, 4302-5 each have theability to wirelessly listen to a data stream transmitted by the mastercontrol unit 4302-1 and extract data from within the stream specificallyaddressed to it (and to follow instructions within that data), as wellas the ability to transmit address information, and the ability towirelessly provide feedback.

When an address “A1” is transmitted from the master control unit 4302-1to the next base unit 4302-2 in the series (which, as shown in theexample of FIG. 43 could be any constant value) that next base unit4302-2 uses the transmitted address information and a predeterminedalgorithm f(A1), or lookup table, to calculate or determine its ownaddress, A2, and stores the derived (i.e. calculated or looked-up)address in its memory (again, typically, but not necessarily,nonvolatile memory). In FIG. 43, a specific sample predeterminedalgorithm that adds a constant “K” to the received address information,[A1+K], is shown, as well as a more generic representation of apredetermined algorithm, f(A1), to indicate that any appropriatealgorithm, derived value, or look up approach can be used. After thatparticular base unit 4302-2 has determined its address, based upon theaddress it received, that base unit 4302-2 will pass its derived addressA2, in this case “[A1+K]” to the next base unit 4302-3 in the series,which will then determine its address in the same way and pass it on,and so forth, until all base units have received an address from theirimmediately preceding base unit and derived their own address from theone they received.

A less sophisticated alternative variant approach (or one that can beapplied if an intermediate base unit has failed) does not require eachbase unit (or the base unit after the one that failed) to calculate itsaddress and output it, but rather causes the base unit to broadcast itsstored address back to a master control unit and either explicitly askthe master control unit for an address to output to the next base unitor to simply know to wait for the master control unit 4302-1 tobroadcast an address for that base unit to output to its next neighbor.The waiting base unit would then listen for the master control unit4302-1 to send a data packet directed to its particular address and thenrespond accordingly. This technique could be used in any instance were afeedback channel is provided, wireless or otherwise, such as shown, forexample, in FIG. 40B and/or FIG. 41B, which would provide a way for themaster control unit 4302-1 to know that one or more base units in theseries has a failure that creates one or more “gap(s)” in the series. Atany point, if a base unit is at the end of the line (or is otherwiseunable to transmit an address to the next base unit in the series, dueto for example that base unit either being missing or damaged, thenafter it has determined and stored its individual address, it couldsimply do nothing or, if there is a feedback channel the base unit canprovide feedback to the master control unit that it cannot provide itsaddress to a next base unit or, if it has a way of knowing (like someform of terminator being attached where the next board would be, that itis the last base unit in the series.

Optionally and/or alternatively, if the master control unit knows howmany base units there are, the system can be configured so that themaster control unit can count when it receives feedback from all of thebase units or, if it knows or can calculate all of the addresses thatshould be calculated by each base unit, then, as each base unit feedsits determined address back to the master control unit 4302-1, themaster control unit can delete or mark that address as set, in eithercase, the master control unit can know whether or not the fullcontingent of base units have all determined their addresses. In afurther alternative approach, based on a pre-established protocol, themaster control unit can simply wait for the last base unit in the seriesto broadcast its address and assume that the address received representsthe end of the line.

With wired addressing, another approach that a master control unit candetermine that a given base unit is the last in the series is that thebase units could have been pre-programmed or have received instructionfrom the master control unit that, if its calculated address correspondsto a specific value, then it is suppose to be the last base unit in theseries. Alternatively, if the address line provides two-waycommunication, then a base unit could listen for a handshake from thenext successive base unit following passing its address to the presumednext base unit in the series. If it does not receive a handshake withina specified timeout period, the sending base unit could assume it is atthe end of the series. Finally, depending on the particular variant andits electrical configuration, it is possible to, using known techniques,configure the system to poll information about an I/O port and determineif there is anything connected to the port based on measuring currentdrain or some other electrical propert(y/ies).

Aside from listening for a broadcast from the last base unit in theseries, which may never come in the event of a failure of a base unit,the master control unit could send out addressed instructions to aparticular base unit requesting that it provide feedback of either itsaddress or some other requested status information. Depending upon theparticular implementation, the addressed instructions could either betargeted information to the base unit anticipated to be at the end ofthe line, they could be in the form of a “roll call” where each baseunit is sequentially requested to provide its address or some statusinformation, or base units can be requested to provide address or somestatus information according to a standard search algorithm, for exampleone that could allow the system to identify where a failure occurred.

One representative example of a standard search algorithm uses a type ofhalf interval search. This would be accomplished by sending a request toa base unit in the center of the series for its address or some otherinformation. If it is received, the problem is between the center andthe end. If not, the problem is between the master control unit and thebase unit in the center of the series. Once the half range where theproblem is located is determined, the center base unit in the half rangewith the problem is the halved in the same manner. The process (halvingthe bad group with the problem and then checking) repeats until thefailed base unit is isolated.

The simplest protocol for wireless feedback, assuming multiple wirelesscommunication channels are available, is to receive data on one channeland to provide feedback through a separate wireless communicationchannel. However, in the event that the same wireless channel must beutilized for both receipt of data and feedback then a protocol, forexample as follows, could be implemented based on the use of base unitsconfigured in a master/slave relationship. The protocol would rely upona base unit slave, knowing that it is a slave, and so it will neverbroadcast unless it has received specific instructions from the mastercontrol unit to provide feedback. Other alternative protocols, such asthe slave only providing feedback during pre-established breaks, couldalso be used. Indeed, any protocol that would allow for ensuring thatall good base units have their address and, optionally, allow for thedetection of a failed unit can be used.

Since the wireless communications channels of the base unit shown inFIG. 42 allow for two-way communication, it is also capable of wirelessself-addressing. Given the capabilities of the chip set 4200 of FIG. 42as shown, it is possible to use the wireless channels of that chip set4200 for self-addressing over distances from less than about 2 feet(under normal operation) to across the globe using cell phonetechnology. In some implementation cases however, with the interlockingbase units discussed herein, excessive crosstalk could be a problem. Asa result, chip set 4200, as shown, also optionally can include separatewireless addressing channels that can be used for such close quarterscircumstances where crosstalk could be a problem. Specifically itoptionally could include any one or more of the three wirelesstransmitter-receiver pairs shown. One such transmitter-receiver pair4222, 4224 that could optionally be included is a Hall effecttransmitter-receiver pair, with the transmitter 4222 indicated by themagnet with a coil wrapped (a magnetic field producer) around it andHall effect receiver 4224 represented by a box with a small coil on itsend. Another transmitter-receiver pair that could be used is an opticaltransceiver pair 4226, 4228, which could be any pairing that useselectromagnetic waves (in the visible or invisible parts of thespectrum) such as ultraviolet, infrared, visible light, or coherentbeams (i.e. laser), etc. to communicate between the two. A third exampletransmitter-receiver pair that could be used is a broadcast transmitterreceiver pair 4230, 4232, illustratively represented by antenna, whichcould use any conventional broadcast wavelength within theelectromagnetic spectrum appropriate for the distance, available powerand application.

FIGS. 44A-44F illustrate, in simplified form, a functional example of asequence of actions making up one method of wireless self-addressingusing a wireless transmitter receiver pair and a base unit 4302-1configured as a master control unit and some of the other base units4302-2, 4302-3, 4302-4 from FIG. 43. Specifically, FIG. 44A alsoincludes an address signal 4400, FIG. 44B also includes an addresssignal 4400′ and feedback 4410, FIG. 44C also includes broadcast data4420 and an address signal 4430, and FIG. 44D also includes an addresssignal 4430′ and feedback 4440.

The Master Control Unit 4302-1 has the ability to wirelessly broadcastaddressed data packets, receive feedback wirelessly and wirelesslytransmit and receive an address.

The base units 4302-2, 4302-3, 4302-4, each listen to the broadcast bythe master control unit 4302-1 for their specific address in thebroadcast and extract data (which may be true data or data representinginstructions for that base unit to act based upon) from within thestream that is specifically addressed to it and act accordingly basedupon what is received.

Additionally, in some implementations, a master control unit can alsohave the capabilities of a base unit (i.e., it can listen to thebroadcast from another master control unit (not shown) for its specificaddress and extract data (which may be true data or data representinginstructions for it to act based upon) from within the stream that isspecifically addressed to it and act accordingly based upon what isreceived.

FIG. 44A illustrates the initiation of the addressing process. Themaster control unit 4302-1 will begin broadcasting an address signal4400. If the address signal 4400 is insufficient to initiate addressingthen nothing will occur and no feedback will be received by the mastercontrol unit 4302-1.

If no feedback is received, then the master control unit 4302-1 willbroadcast another address signal 4400′, which could be the originaladdress signal 4400 simply rebroadcast with increased signal strengthtrying a different wireless transmission channel, if multiple wirelesschannels are available, or, if a wired channel is also available,sending the same signal via the wired channel.

FIG. 44B illustrates, in simplified form, the circumstance where therebroadcast addressing signal 4400′ is sufficient to initiateaddressing. The first base unit (or next base unit in implementationswhere the master control unit is also a base unit) receives theaddressing signal 4400′ and, based upon information contained in thatsignal 4400′, it calculates its address, stores the calculated addressin nonvolatile memory, and provides feedback 4410 to the master controlunit 4302-1 indicating that it has been addressed.

FIG. 44C illustrates, in simplified form, the next step, in which themaster control unit broadcasts data 4420 that then tells the first baseunit 4302-2 to transmit its address and instructs all of other currentlyunaddressed base units 4302-3, 4302-4 to, for example, listen for anyaddress being broadcast, listen only for a specific address beingbroadcast (which might be useful in a crowded situation where othernearby master and slave base units are also using self-addressing, orlisten for an address that meets certain parameters or for a base unitto do so if it meets certain specific parameters.

Examples of specific parameters that could be used in some variantsinclude, to only respond to an address signal broadcast at a specificstrength or on a specific wavelength or channel or to only respond ifthe base unit has specific GPS coordinates or meets some specificcriteria.

FIG. 44C illustrates, in simplified form, the next step in which theinitially addressed base unit 4302-2 initially transmits its addresssignal 4430 to the next base unit 4302-3 in the series. As with themaster control unit, if there is no response then that base unit can doa rebroadcast. FIG. 44D illustrates, in simplified form, the next stepfor the case where no response to the initial broadcast was received. Asshown, the base unit 4302-2 transmits a new address signal 4430′, which,as with the master control unit, could be a rebroadcast of the originalsignal with increased signal strength or potentially trying a differentwireless transmission channel if multiple wireless channels areavailable, or, if a wired channel is also available, sending the samesignal via the wired channel.

When the next base unit 4302-3 has determined its address, it similarlyprovides feedback 4440 back to the master control unit 4302-1.

FIG. 44E illustrates, in simplified form, the process steps of FIG. 44Cand FIG. 44D until all of the base units have provided feedback to themaster control unit 4302-1 that they are addressed. FIG. 44Fillustrates, in simplified form, that all base units 4302-2, 4302-3,4302-4, . . . , are addressed and the master control unit 4302-1 can nowsend data and/or instructions to those base units 4302-2, 4302-3,4302-4, . . . to effect the desired display.

Unlike FIGS. 44A-44F, where the starting address was transmitted by themaster control unit 4302-1, FIGS. 45A-45C illustrate, in simplifiedform, a functional example of a sequence of actions making up a methodof wireless self-addressing without needing a master control unit tosupply an initial starting address to it. As shown in FIGS. 45A-45C theexample transmitter-receiver pair is a Hall effect transmitter-receiverpair. As a side note it should be mentioned that, since a Hall effecttransmitter-receiver pair is directional, all of the discussion relatedto FIGS. 45A-45C is equally applicable to other directionaltransmitter-receiver pairs including those operating on a purely “lineof sight” basis (which is a special, more limited case, of directionaltransmitters and/or receivers).

Returning to FIGS. 45A-45C, a base unit or other device acting as amaster control unit 4500 has ability to wirelessly both broadcastaddressed data packets and receive feedback. FIG. 45A illustrates theinitiation of the addressing process for this approach. The mastercontrol unit 4500 sends broadcast data 4502 to instruct all of the baseunits 4504 to begin the addressing process. In response, all of the baseunits 4504 send out an address signal 4510 to their next neighbor baseunit in the series, which in its simplest form is simply an “on” pulsebut, in more complex implementations, could be one or more instructionsand/or particular data. In FIGS. 45A-45C, the base units are configuredwith a linear alignment of the Hall effect transmitter-receiver pairs4522. Advantageously, as a result, any base unit 4504 that does notreceive an input pulse from a preceding base unit 4504 will be able todetermine that it is the first base unit in the series and, therebyestablish itself with an address, depending upon the particularimplementation which may be part of the initial broadcast data 4502, ormay be calculated or predetermined from contents of particular addressdata in its storage, that corresponds to the address to be used by afirst base unit in the series. For example, in a simple example, ainternal instruction in each of the base units 4504 might say that thepredetermined address that corresponds to the first unit is equal to “1”if (a) the base unit does not receive an input pulse from a precedingneighbor base unit to which it is connected via its hall effect receiverand (b) a master control unit 4500 did not otherwise specify an addressto use for the first unit in its initial broadcast data 4502.

While, in general, many independent wireless self-addressingimplementations will have some unit 4500, be it a base unit, orsomething else, which will perform the functions of the master controlunit, its presence is not required for all implementations. For someimplementations, the functions of the master control unit could also beinitiated within the power-up routine built into each base unit so that,for example, upon power-up, after waiting some time interval to allowfor stabilization, each base unit 4504 could transmit an addressinitiation pulse to its next neighbor base unit and at the same timelook for the receipt of either an address initiation pulse or an addressfrom its preceding neighbor base unit to determine if it was the firstbase unit in the series. Depending upon the particular implementation, abase unit could be configured to determine if it is the last base unitin the series based upon some form of detection or feedback, or couldsimply operate as if there was a next base unit, even though there is nounit to receive anything from it.

Once a specific base unit 4504 determines that it is the first in theseries, it will, for example, use a pre-determined address stored withinit as a default address or calculate an initial base unit address basedupon instructions and/or data contained therein, and if necessary, storethat initial address in its memory. Upon completion of determining itsaddress by whatever method, that first base unit can then begin the nextstep in the addressing process by, as shown in FIG. 45B, transmitting anaddress signal 4520 to the next base unit in the series so that it candetermine its address, and so forth for each base unit down the line.

FIG. 45C illustrates, in simplified form, the case when the last baseunit in the series receives an address signal 4530 from its precedingneighbor base unit. After determining and storing its own address, sinceit has determined on power up that it is the last base unit in theseries, that base unit sends feedback 4540 to the master control 4500that either, it or all, of the base units 4504 have been addressed. Thisis because, depending upon the particular implementation, each base unitcan be configured to, for example, send its own feedback signal to themaster control 4500 once it has determined its own address (which isuseful for cases where a base unit cannot determine that it is the lastin the series or where this action may be used to help identify a failedbase unit) or, if a base unit can determine it its the last in theseries to minimize the number of feedback signals the master control4500 must handle.

At this point it should be noted that, in different implementations, itis possible for a base unit to determine that it is the last one in theseries through various approaches including, for example, the setting ofa dip switch or jumper on a base unit during installation to indicatethat it is a last unit, or, if what would be the last address in theseries is known, that address value could be set on one or more of theintended last base units so that each can perform a simple “compare” todetermine whether its address is that set value and, if it is, then itis the last base unit in the series.

FIGS. 46A-46D illustrate, in simplified form, the functional example ofhow a failed base unit in a wireless self-addressing configuration ofFIGS. 45A-45C can be determined and handled. The configuration of FIG.46A-46D is identical to that of FIGS. 45A-45C except that, one of thebase units 4504 is now a damaged base unit 4604. As shown in FIG. 46A,the process is initiated according to one of the approaches described inconnection with FIG. 45A but, it should be noted that, in this variantconfiguration, the Hall effect transmitter-receiver pairs, beingdirectional, are configured such that, on the transmit side, thetransmitted signal is an “overflow signal” in that it strong enough toreach the receiver of not only the immediately adjacent base unit, butthe base unit thereafter (called a “jump” base unit) but no further, butthe signal is also weak enough at the jump base unit that it will notinterfere with, or be overshadowed by, a similar signal provided by theimmediately adjacent base unit. On the receiver side, the receiver isconfigured to receive the signal from its preceding base unit asdescribed in connection with FIGS. 45A-45C under normal circumstancesbut detect that it is receiving an overflow signal as a jump base unitif the signal has a strength below a certain level. Returning to theprocess of FIGS. 46A-46D, due to the fact that there is a failed baseunit 4604 in the series (indicated by the “X” over it), which, in thisexample, is unable to both transmit and receive an address signal, thebase unit immediately after the failed base unit 4604 will not receivethe address pulse 4610 signal at full strength. Instead, it will receivea reduced strength address pulse from the base unit immediately in frontof the failed base unit 4604. As a result, this base unit will be ableto establish that it is a jump base unit and not the first base unit inthe series. At this point it should be noted that this might not be thecase with many implementation involving “line of sight”transmitter-receiver pairs because, the intervening failed base unit4604 would block the transmission to the base unit that comes after thefailed base unit and, thus, both the first base unit in the series andwhat would be the putative jump base unit would both think they arefirst base unit in the series unless specific “work around” circuitrywas implemented in the base units to deal with this situation. Since thecreation of such “work around” circuitry to handle this case in thisparticular type of implementation is not necessary for understanding theteachings herein and would involve the application of routine skill andgeneral design choice, that aspect is left to the creator of suchparticular implementation and not discussed herein.

In FIG. 46B, as in FIG. 45B, the first base unit determines that it isthe first in the series and the process of addressing all of the baseunits in the series by transmitting an overflow signal address signal4620 to the next base unit in the series proceeds.

However, due to the failed base unit 4604 the base unit in the seriesafter the failed base unit will receive a reduced strength overflowaddress signal 4630 from the base unit immediately in front of thefailed base unit 4604 and determine that it is a jump base unit as aresult. Once a base unit is a jump base unit, depending upon theparticular implementation, the jump base unit could be configured totake any of multiple actions according to, for example, the intendedapplication, the base unit capability or implementer's needs orabilities. By way of a few representative example approaches notintended to be exclusive, the jump base unit could be programmed to donothing, it could be programmed to send a feedback signal 4640 back tothe master control 4500 and wait further instruction, it could use thereduced strength address signal to establish its address (effectivelyignoring the intervening failed base unit 4604 and making it the next inthe series) and then either continue as normal (and optionallyadditionally send feedback 4640 to the master control unit 4500), itcould send feedback 4640 to the master control unit 4500 indicating thatthe preceding base unit is a failed base unit and provide the address itreceived as a reduced strength overflow address signal so that themaster control unit 4500 could determine the proper address for the jumpbase unit to use and transmit it back to the jump base unit so theprocess could proceed, or it could apply an internally storedalternative determination protocol that would allow it to use theoverflow address signal and use it to determine its proper address.

In this manner, as shown in FIG. 46D, having received appropriatebroadcast data 4650 back from the master control unit 4500, the jumpbase unit can continue the process down the line by sending its addresssignal 4660 out to the next base unit in the series (not shown).

As an aside, in some implementations, once all the base units 4504 haveself-addressed, the master control unit 4500 could individually poll thebase units to determine whether the purported failed base unit 4604,rather than being completely failed, might just have a weak output, inwhich case an actual base unit failure may have incorrectly beenassumed. In this recovery scenario, there would be two or more addressedbase units with the same address, which the master control unit 4500could then easily correct by sending out instructions to the jump baseunit and all base units thereafter in the series to readdress.

Still other forms of handling self-addressing in the face of a failureof a base unit could involve having redundant transmitter receiver pairsthat directly bypass the base unit that they are on and are only used asa fallback in a failure case. While this approach allows for anadditional level of recovery, it is not as powerful as usingmulti-dimensional address reception. In the simplest case, withreference to FIGS. 46A-46D, putting a second set of transmitter receiverpairs acting in the same direction would produce a single dimension (X)redundant system. However, reversing the direction of the second set oftransmitter receiver pairs (−X) would result in a form ofmulti-dimensional address reception.

FIGS. 47A-47E illustrate, in simplified form, a representative exampleof a configuration of base units 4704, of which one is a partiallyfailed base unit 4706, illustrate a system implementingmulti-dimensional address reception. As shown, all of the base units4704, including the partially failed base unit 4706 are constructed likethe base units 4504 of the previous figures, except that they alsoinclude a second set of transmitter receiver pairs 4708 a, 4708 barranged in a reverse direction to establish the second dimension (−X).

As with the examples of the previous two sets of figures, FIG. 47Aillustrates initiation of the addressing process. As before, the mastercontrol unit 4700 will send broadcast data 4702 to instruct all of thebase units 4704, 4706 to begin the addressing of the series along theprimary dimension (X). All of the base units 4704 will then send out anaddress signal 4710 to the next base unit down the line in the primarydirection via the first set of transmitter-receiver pairs and, asappropriate, determine if they are the first or last base unit in theseries.

Due to the fact that there is a damaged base unit 4706 in the series,which, in this example, is unable to transmit an address signal 4710 tothe base unit that immediately follows. However, since the addresssignal 4710 is an overflow address signal, the base unit immediatelyafter the damaged base unit 4706 will not receive the address pulse 4710at full strength. Instead, it will receive the overflow address signal4710 as a reduced strength address and follow the appropriate protocolapplicable to jump base units as, for example, described above.

For this example however, and in contrast to the example of FIGS.46A-46C, presume that the base unit 4704 immediately following thedamaged base unit 4706 (indicated in FIG. 47A with “Starting Point?”)was unable to determine whether or not it was the first base unit in theseries, which could be the case if the Hall effect transmitter-receiverpairs were replaced with “line of sight” transmitter-receiver pairs, orpossibly if the signal to noise ratio was insufficient to make thedetermination.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 47B, addressing in a second dimension (−X)would be triggered (or, in other implementations, initiated as part of astandard addressing protocol). This process could be initiated by themaster control unit 4700 sending new broadcast data 4712 for use by thesecond set of transmitter-receiver pairs (or in some cases, couldinvolve the master control unit sending both sets of broadcast data4700, 4712 in a single step). The reverse dimension address signal 4720is then transmitted in dimension −X, starting from the last base unit inthe series (illustratively shown as the base unit farthest from themaster control unit 4700 and it is assumed for illustration purposesthat this base unit can determine that it is the starting point.

At this point, the advantages and power of multidimensional addressreception becomes apparent. For example, since this base unit didreceive an address signal in the X dimension but did not receive anaddress IN signal, it can determine, as shown in FIG. 47C, that it is atthe end of the line. This means that the end point can be establishedwithout requiring either the master control unit 4700 or any base unit4704 to know ahead of time the total number of base units in the seriesto determine an end point, which allows for dynamic configurations to bemore easily constructed.

As shown in FIG. 47C, with multi-dimensional address reception, themaster control unit 4700 sends out broadcast data 4730 to instruct thebase units 4704, 4706 to begin transmitting addresses beginning with thefirst base unit in each dimension. In the case of the X dimension thedamaged base unit 4706 would result in two base units initially actingas if they are both starting points and both of them will initiallytransmit the first addressing signal 4740. In contrast, in the −Xdimension there is only one starting location and only one initialaddress signal 4750 would be transmitted in the −X dimension.

FIG. 47D illustrates, in simplified form, that the addressing signals,to the extent that they can, will continue to propagate in bothdimensions. Note here that, for simplicity, the algorithm used forself-addressing in both the X and the −X directions is simply to add theconstant value “1” to the previous address; it should be remembered thatthe value could be any constant and/or the algorithm could have been anyalgorithm. Ultimately, in the case of the X dimension, two addresssignals 4760 would propagate due to the multiple start points, but onewould make it to the end because one of the base units 4706 is damaged.However, in the −X dimension, the address signal 4770 would propagateall the way through without error. Once a base unit has determined itsaddress in both the X dimension and the −X dimension, it providesfeedback to the master control unit 4700 identifying its address in bothdimensions. As a result, the mid series base unit that incorrectlythought it was a starting point now has its −X dimension addressed aswell and so it provides feedback back 4780 to the master control unit4700 that its addressing is complete and, for purposes of simplicity inthis example, that its address is “1” in the X dimension and “3” in the−X dimension. If the self-addressing was properly performed in theentire series, the highest address received as feedback by the mastercontrol unit 4700 for the X dimension would match the highest addressreceived as feedback by the master control unit 4700 for the −Xdimension and, if not, the master control unit 4700 would know thatthere was a problem in one of the dimensions, namely, the one with thelower address. Alternatively, if the master control unit 4700 receivesduplicate addresses in a dimension, they will both begin at the samevalue and propagate in duplicate until the failure point is reached, themaster control unit 4700 will know, or can derive, that there is afailure in the base unit, along the dimension where the duplicateself-addressing occurred, immediately following the last duplicateaddress. With another alternative, if the master control unit knows thetotal number of base units, or the expected final address, from thefeedback it can compare the highest value received in each dimension tothat number and, again, if a mismatch occurs, this is indicative of aself-addressing failure and it can use an approach herein to identifythe point of failure.

Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations, the mastercontrol unit 4700 may or may not know the final base unit count, but,with this approach, at some point it will receive duplicate addresses inone dimension and (unless there is a failure affecting both dimensionson one or more base units) an address that is at least one addresshigher than in the other dimension, with the higher number indicating,directly or indirectly, the total number of base units. Moreover, withthis information and assuming a single failure affecting only onedimension, the master control unit 4700 can readily derive from thehighest address it receives in each dimension, how far down the line(i.e. which base unit) has the failure. For example, in FIG. 47E, whenself-addressing is complete, the highest address in the X dimensionwould be “3”, whereas the highest address in the −X dimension would be“5”. Subtracting “3” from “5” would yield “2” and indicate the failurewas in the second base unit in the X dimension. As a result of this newinformation, the master control unit 4700 can then take action to causethe base units to correctly self-address by sending additional broadcastdata (not shown) to tell the base unit immediately following the failurein the particular dimension (and optionally the base unit with thefailure) the proper address(es) or by providing information from whichthe proper address(es) can be determined. In the example of FIG. 47E, itcould therefore tell the base unit 4704 immediately following the baseunit 4706 with the failure in the X dimension to use address “3” in theX dimension address and trigger a propagation down the line thereafter.Optionally, the master control unit 4700 could tell the base unit 4706with the failure to use address “2” in the X dimension so that, if it isotherwise functional, it could work properly despite the addressingproblem. Notably, the same approach would still work if there is morethan one failure in a single dimension (provided there were no failuresin the other dimension). In that case, the master control unit 4700would receive feedback of three or more duplicate addresses and wouldproceed to handle the first failure in the line as described above.However, since there were multiple failures, then:

1) if the failures existed on two or more adjacent base units, theself-address values would not propagate from the base unit immediatelyfollowing the first failure, (i.e. the situation would remain unchanged)indicating that the next board likewise had a failure. The mastercontrol unit 4700 could then move on to the next successive base unit,and so forth, until there was a proper correlation of end addresses inboth dimensions; or

2) if the failures existed on two or more base units with at least onegood base unit between any two failures, the single failure approachwould be used to account for the first failure. Then, in an iterativefashion, the same approach would be used starting from the base unitimmediately after the accounted for failure until the final addresses inboth dimensions properly correlated.

Aside from advantageously providing powerful recovery capabilities inthe event of one or more failed units, multi-dimensional addressing canalso be utilized to self-address very complex systems.

FIGS. 48, 49, and 50A-50C illustrate, in simplified form, representativeexamples of how to use multi-dimensional addressing to self-address adisplay, made up of a series base units 4840, each having multipleluminaires 120 thereon, that have been connected together and axiallyinserted into the board support channels of a set of axially alignedtubes constructed according to the teachings herein, and configured in atwo-dimensional matrix for self-addressing using wired (FIG. 48),wireless (FIG. 49) and combination (FIGS. 50A-50C) approaches. While,for purposes of these examples, and simplicity of understanding, atwo-dimensional matrix is used, it should be understood that the sameteachings can readily be extended to a three dimensional grid, or to anynumber of dimensions as desired for the particular application. Notehere that, for purposes of discussion, the terms “row” and “column” maybe used in certain examples. It is to be understood that this usage isintended to only differentiate between orthogonal dimensions (e.g. the X& Y dimensions of a Cartesian coordinate system) and not intended toimply or require any particular orientation of the lighting array orother device within which the self-addressing approach is used. In otherwords, depending upon the particular display involved, the base unitslinearly arranged within a tube could be referred to as a “row” or as a“column” irrespective of whether the tube itself is oriented within aplane horizontally, vertically, or at some angle, or, within athree-dimensional system, at some combination of angles defining acomplex orientation within a three-dimensional system. Moreover, andlikewise, the term multi-dimensional addressing is intended to purely bea reference to addressing within a lighting system independent of theorientation of the display in any given plane or in a three-dimensionalspace.

Specifically, FIG. 48 illustrates, in simplified form, the use ofmulti-dimensional self-addressing of a two-dimensional matrix (grid)using wired data transmission in connection with a lighting assembly 48.Each tube 100 in the lighting assembly 48 includes, in this example, atone end, a printed circuit board 4820 with a master/slave unit 4810mounted thereon, a data line 4814 extending to a board-to-boardconnector element, an address line 4816 wired in between each twoprinted circuit boards 4820 of adjacent tubes 100 and another addressline 4818 connecting the printed circuit board 4820 to a series ofinterconnected printed circuit boards that are the luminaire-bearingbase units 4840. Each of the luminaire-bearing base units 4840 has achip set 4830 that corresponds to one of the variant chip sets describedin connection with FIG. 42, a board-to-board data line 4824 ultimatelyserially connecting all of the base units 4840 in each tube 100 to thedata line 4814 of the printed circuit board 4820, a board-to-boardaddress line address line 4828 ultimately serially connecting all of thebase units 4840 in each tube 100 to the address line 4818, and rails4850 and 4850′, which supply power to all printed circuit boards 4820and base units 4840 within each tube 100.

In addition, the master/slave units 4810 on each printed circuit board4820 are coupled to a data line 4804 from a master control unit 4800 sothat they can receive data and instructions from the master control unit4800 via the data line 4804.

The master control unit 4800 is interconnected to the first tube 100 ofthe lighting assembly 48 through an address line 4806, which ispropagated to subsequent tubes 100 of the lighting assembly 48 inmulti-dimensional manner via each tube-to-tube address line 4816.

Within each tube 100 of the lighting assembly 48, the self-addressingbetween master/slave unit 4810 and the chip sets 4830 within the tubecan be accomplished in a linear address transmission manner as describedherein in connection with FIG. 40A or, if a data feedback line isincluded, as disclosed in incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 8,214,059 orReissue application Ser. No. 13/921,907. However, the addition ofsubsequent lines of tubes 100 to form the lighting assembly 48, beingmulti-dimensionally interconnected through the tube-to-tube address line4616, renders linear address transmission unsuitable by itself for someimplementations. For others, it is possible to first address within atube 100 of the lighting assembly 48 and then address between thefollowing tubes 100 if the last address within a tube 100 or the totalnumber of addresses that will be used within a tube is known, allowingthe master control unit 4800 to sequentially send the proper address toeach master/slave units 4810, however, that approach requires additionaladdressing lines (not shown) to connect the master control unit 4800 tothe master/slave units 4810.

The protocol of self-addressing between subsequent tubes 100 of alighting assembly 48 starts with the master unit 4800 and progressessequentially through the master/slave units 4810 of each tube 100 as ifit was a separate linear self-addressing array as described herein. Theinitial address is transmitted from the master control unit 4800 to thefirst master/slave unit 4810 in the series. The initial addresstransmitted could be any value but for illustration purposes the number0 will be utilized. The first master/slave unit 4810 then, through apredetermined algorithm, calculates and stores its “row” address in itsnonvolatile memory. For illustration purposes the predeterminedalgorithm will be assumed to be adding a constant value, but thealgorithm could be more complex, could involve accessing a lookup table,could involve a combination of those approaches (i.e. apply an algorithmand then use the result as a hash value into a table), or any othersuitable algorithm. Once it has self-addressed, the initial master/slaveunit 4810 will output its address, using the address line 4816, to thenext sequential tube's 100 master/slave unit 4810, which will repeat theprocess to determine its self-address and then pass it on to the nextmaster/slave unit 4810 of the next tube, and so forth until all of themaster/slave units 4818 have been self-addressed. Assuming, merely forpurposes of understanding in connection with this example, thepredetermined algorithm is to simply add the value of “1” to theprevious address, then this will result in the “row” addressessequentially being (in FIG. 48, from top to bottom) the values of “1”,“2”, “3”, . . . Once all the rows have been addressed, thenself-addressing of the boards 4840 within each tube 100 of the lightingdisplay 48 can proceed.

At this point it should be noted that this example approach requires theself-addressing of all of the master/slave units 4810 of the tubes 100to be complete before the inter-tube addressing begins. That is becauseit is presumed that the lighting display 48 incorporates an approachthat allows the master control unit 4800 to detect a failed master/slave4810 unit, for example using teachings contained herein, or someconventional approach for detecting a failed electrical device, andthus, if there is a failure in one of the master/slave units 4810, themaster control unit 4800 may need to trigger some of the master/slaveunits 4810 to repeat the self-addressing process after taking someaction. Of course, there is no technical impediment to beginning theself-addressing process within a tube 100 immediately after itsmaster/slave unit 4810 has self-addressed, so it should be understoodthat this approach (whereby self-addressing may occur within a tubeconcurrently with ongoing self-addressing by one or more master/slaveunits 4810) could also be used, although it has drawbacks and couldresult in erroneous content display if there is a failed master/slave4810 unit in the lighting display 48.

Assuming however, that the lighting display 48 contains all goodcomponents or all the master/slave units 4810 have all properlycompleted self-addressing, the process of self-addressing within a tubecan begin. The initial step in that process begins with eachmaster/slave unit 4810 transmitting its address to the chip set 4830 ofthe first base unit 4840 in the series of interconnected base unitsusing the address line 4818 on the base unit 4840. As noted previously,the initial address transmitted could be any value. Indeed, that addresstransmitted with a tube 100 can, but need not be, related to theself-address of the master/slave unit 4810 at all. By way of a fewrepresentative examples to illustrate the point, in one example, themaster slave addresses could have been values that sequentiallyincremented by the value of “1” from tube to tube, and the addresswithin each tube 100 might begin incrementing from the number “1” suchthat the address of any given chip set 4830 could be represented as avalue containing both the rows address and column address together (e.g.“1.4” where the number to the left the decimal point represents the“row” number and the number to the right of the decimal point representsthe “column” number). In another example, the starting address for eachmaster/slave unit 4810 could be derived using an algorithm such thatthey begin at the value of “1024” and go up in increments of “2048” suchthat the self-address for the master/slave unit 4810 in the second tube100 would be “3072”, the self-address for the master/slave unit 4810 inthe third tube 100 would be “5110” and so forth, and the first base unitchip set 4830 within a tube 100 would use that master/slave unit 4810address value to calculate its own, for example by simply adding thevalue “16” such that the first chip set 4830 in the first tube 100 ofthe lighting display 48 would have a self-address of “1040” (i.e.1024+16), the first chip set 4830 in the second tube 100 of the lightingdisplay 48 would have a self-address of “3088” (i.e. 3072+16), etc., afurther example could have the first chip set 4830 use the value of theself-address provided by the master/slave unit 4810 of its tube 100 as ahash value into a table, use the value within the table at that locationas its self-address, pass that self-address value to the next chip set4830 within the tube, etc. which will do the same, etc. until all of theself-addressing within each tube 100 is complete. In a final example,the “row” self-address value could simply be passed along and the“column” self-address value (i.e. self-address value within a tube 100of this example) could be determined in some wholly independent mannerusing, for example, some value contained in the memory of, or physicallyset on, the first or each individual base unit 4840 with each tube 100.

As should now be appreciated, base upon the teachings herein, thepermutations and combinations of ways that any given component in adisplay can self-address are vast and provide significant advantagesover conventional large display systems that must predetermine and seteach component's address individually.

Within each tube 100, it should now be recognized, the process willproceed in the same basic manner that was used for the self-addressingof the master/slave units 4810 of each tube. Advantageously, the sametype of failure checking can be employed to identify a failure and/ordeal with addressing in spite of a failure.

Accordingly, once all of the chip sets 4830 in all of the tubes 100 ofthe display 48 have been self-addressed, the master control unit 4800can begin to transmit display instructions and/or data using data line4804.

In the row-column based address example above, where each chip set mightonly know its “column” number, each master/slave unit 4810 would beresponsible for parsing data from the master control unit 4800 for its“row” and then transmitting only that data to the chip sets 4830 withinthe “row” using the data line 4824. On the other hand, if an approach isused whereby the chip sets 4830 know both their “row” and “column”address, then each master/slave unit 4810 in each tube 100 could simplypass on all of the data coming from the master control unit 4800.However, in such a case, most of the data transmitted within a giventube 100 will be for other chip sets in other tubes of the display 48(i.e. it will be irrelevant to every chip set 4830 within that tube100). As a result, even if the chip sets 4830 within a tube know boththeir row and column address, it is likely desirable that themaster/slave unit 4810 in each tube 100 still parse the data for itsparticular rows and only transmit that information on via the in-tubedata line 4824.

In the example of FIG. 48, it should now be understood and appreciatedthat the master control unit 4800 has the ability for wired broadcast ofaddressed data packets and to transmit an address. Additionally, eachmaster/slave unit 4810 has the ability to listen to a wired data streamand extract data within the stream specifically addressed to it and thentransmit that data downstream, receive address information, and transmitaddress information in a plurality of dimensions.

Finally, chip set 4830 has the ability to listen to a data stream andextract data within the stream specifically addressed to it (and tofollow instructions within that data) and the ability to transmitaddress information. Note further that by including the capabilities ofa master/slave unit 4810 into each chip set 4830 it is possible, in someimplementations, to eliminate the printed circuit board 4820 in eachtube 100 of FIG. 48 that contains the master/slave unit 4810 because thefirst chip set 4830 in the row would then perform all of the functionsspecified as being performed by the master/slave unit 4810, as well asthose it would normally perform.

FIG. 49 illustrates, in simplified form, the use of multi-dimensionalself-addressing in a two-dimensional matrix (grid) using a combinationsystem of both wired and wireless data transmission and both wired andwireless self-addressing of a plurality of tubes 100 making up alighting assembly 49 constructed based upon the teachings herein. Asshown, because the connections within each tube 100 of FIG. 49 arewired, within a tube the self-addressing can proceed as described inconnection with FIG. 48 or according to any other wired in-tubeapproach. In overview and contrast to FIG. 48, the tube-to-tubeself-addressing in FIG. 49 will occur via one of the wireless approachvariants described herein or based thereon.

As shown in FIG. 49, each tube 100 in the lighting assembly 49 includesa printed circuit board 4920, which has a master/slave unit 4910, dataline 4914, and address line 4918 thereon, multiple printed circuit boardbase units 4940, which each have a chip set 4930 and multiple luminaires120, a data line 4924, and an address line 4928 thereon.

Each of the master/slave units 4910 further include one or more wirelesstransmitter-receiver pairs, such as those described in the chip set 4200of FIG. 42, and thus is capable of transmitting and receiving an addresssignal 4916 and wireless data.

In addition, the printed circuit board 4920 and base units 4940 in eachtube 100 of the lighting assembly 49 receive power from rails 4950 and4950′ and, in this example lighting assembly 49, the power for each tubeis independently supplied by a separate power source 4902, which couldbe a true power supply, line power, direct power from solar cells, apower storage unit 3130, rechargeable storage 3230, or some other sourceof power suitable for the application. Of course, in other variants,power could be collectively supplied from a single source and, likewise,power to one or more of the individual tubes 100 in FIG. 48 could havebeen independently supplied by different power sources. The master/slaveunits 4910 each receive data and instructions wirelessly from a mastercontrol unit 4900 through receipt broadcast data 4906 transmitted by themaster control unit 4900, and conduct tube-to-tube wirelessself-addressing with each other multi-dimensionally using a wirelessaddress signal 4916.

Within the lighting assembly 49 the self-addressing within each tube 100between a master/slave unit 4910 and the series chip sets 4930 isaccomplished as described, for example, in connection with FIG. 48.However, unlike the approach of FIG. 48, which uses a wired address line4816 to connect between subsequent tubes 100 of the lighting assembly48, the lighting assembly 49 is multi-dimensionally self-addressedwirelessly using the wireless address signal 4916. The protocol forwirelessly self-addressing between subsequent tubes 100 of the lightingassembly 49 is accomplished as a separate linear self-addressing arrayand may be performed according to any variant of the wirelessself-addressing approaches of FIGS. 44A-F, FIGS. 45A-C or FIGS. 46A-D.

As with FIG. 48, and maintaining the same “row” and “column”terminology, most implementations constructed according to the teachingillustrated in FIG. 49 would first self-address all the “rows” (i.e.from tube-to-tube) and then self-address all the columns (e.g. the baseunits within each tube). Then, once all the chip sets 4930 of thelighting display 49 have been self-addressed, the master control unit4900 could then begin to wirelessly transmit information for parsing andpassing on to the chip sets 4930 within their tube 100 using its dataline 4814 and from chip set 4930 to chip set 4930 within the tube viathe board-to-board data line 4924. In the example of FIG. 49, the mastercontrol unit 4900 has ability to wireless broadcast addressed datapackets. The master/slave unit 4910 has the ability to listen to awireless data stream and extract data within the stream specificallyaddressed to it and then transmit that data downstream, as well asreceive address information, and transmit that address information bothwirelessly and over an address line. Finally, the chip set 4930 has theability to listen to a data stream and extract data within the streamspecifically addressed to it (and to follow instructions within thatdata) and the ability to transmit address information to another chipset 4930.

As with the configuration of FIG. 48, by including the capabilities ofthe master/slave unit 4910 into the chip sets 4930 it is possible toeliminate the printed circuit board 4920 and have the first chip set4930 in each tube perform all of the functions specified for themaster/slave unit 4910, as well as those normally performed by each chipset 4930 as a member of the series within the tube 100.

FIGS. 50A-50C illustrate, in simplified form, multi-dimensionaladdressing of a two-dimensional matrix (grid) using a completelywireless system for self-addressing from tube 100 to tube 100 and withineach tube of a lighting assembly 50.

Each lighting assembly 50 is made up of multiple tubes 100 eachincluding multiple interconnected printed circuit board base units 5040,which each has a chip set 5030 and multiple luminaires 120 thereon. Eachchip set 5030 within the lighting assembly 50 further includes one ormore wireless transmitter-receiver pairs, such as those described inconnection with the chip set 4200 of FIG. 42, and thus is capable oftransmitting and receiving both a tube-to-tube address signal 5060 andan address signal 5080 within a tube, and one or more means of wirelessdata reception channel capable, such as also described in connectionwith the chip set 4200 of FIG. 42.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 50A-50C, the base units 5040 in theindividual tubes 100 of the lighting assembly 50 receive power from oneor more power source(s) via rails 5050 and 5050′.

As shown in FIGS. 50A-50C, the self-addressing is performed completelywirelessly. FIG. 50A-50B illustrate, in simplified form how this occursfrom tube-to tube based upon the master control unit 5000 initiallysending out a broadcast signal 5006 to all chip sets 5030 to indicatethat self-addressing is to occur and then, based upon the master controlunit 5000 sending out broadcast data 5006B telling all of the chip sets5030 to self-address from tube-to-tube using a wireless self-addressingprotocol such as, for example, any of those described in connection withFIGS. 44A-44F, FIGS. 45A-45C, FIGS. 46A-46D or FIG. 49.

However, unlike as described in connection with FIG. 49, in which thereis only one master/slave unit 4910 per tube 100 in the lighting assembly49, with the lighting assembly of FIG. 50, each chip set 5030 wouldindependently establish its row number within its column, using apredefined protocol, such that all chip sets within a particular tube100 of the lighting assembly 50 would have the same “row” address value,assuming all chip sets are functioning properly.

Once the “row” addressing (FIG. 50B) is completed, then within each tube100 of the lighting assembly 50 the “column” address values would thenbe determined. The protocol for determining the “column” address values(i.e. within each tube 100) is accomplished as a separate linearself-addressing array and may be according to any of the previousmethods described for wireless self-addressing described in connectionwith FIGS. 44A-44F, FIGS. 45A-45C or FIGS. 46A-46D. However, rather thanhaving self-addressing occur with all the tubes 100 at same time, whichis possible with variants created based upon the teachings provided inconnection with FIG. 48 and FIG. 49, with fully wireless configurations,there is a possibility of crosstalk between tubes that could result inmis-addressing, particularly if overflow signals are used. As such, itis expected that the protocol for in-tube addressing will involve eachtube performing in-tube wireless addressing one tube at a time. Ofcourse, if the tube 100 or lighting assembly 50 construction is suchthere is sufficient shielding between tubes 100, then in some cases,multiple tubes 100 could conceivably self-address at the same time.Likewise, even without shielding, depending upon the strength anddirectionality of the transmitter-receiver pairs it may be possible tohave base units in two or more tubes 100 perform in-tube self-addressingif they are sufficiently spaced apart such that their respective signalsto not interfere. Still further, if the individual tubes 100 of thedisplay 50 are sufficiently long, since in-tube addressing occurssequentially from base unit to base unit within the tube, with someimplementation variants it may be possible, again depending upon signalstrength, shielding, directionality, etc., to have adjacent tubesperform in-tube wireless self-addressing on a staggered basis.

FIG. 50C illustrates, in simplified form, the initiation of in-tube selfaddressing, with the master control unit 5000 sending out broadcast data5006C telling the rows one at a time to address themselves resulting inthe chip sets 5030 issuing an in-tube address signal 5080 to their nextneighbor chip set 5030 within the tube.

FIG. 50D illustrates, in simplified form, a lighting display 50′ thatis, in all material structural, functional and operational respects,identical to the lighting display 50 of FIGS. 50A-50C (so those detailsare not shown) except that, in FIG. 50D, power is supplied to each baseunit (i.e. their chip sets, luminaires, etc.) in the lighting display50′ through the use of solar cells 5090.

In the examples of FIG. 49 and FIGS. 50A-50D, the master control units4900, 5000 have the ability to wirelessly broadcast addressed datapackets and, variants of the chip set 4200 of FIG. 42 are capable ofserving as a master control unit 4900, 5000. Each chip set 5030similarly has the ability to listen to a wireless data stream andextract data within the stream specifically addressed to it (and tofollow instructions within that data), and to receive and transmitaddress information in at least two dimensions. Thus, variants of thechip set 4200 of FIG. 42 are also capable of serving as the master/slaveunit 5010.

Up to this point, the discussion has focused on self-addressinguniform/grid type displays such as those in a two-dimensional billboardor wallscape, or higher order displays. Even the example of turningsmart phones in a concert venue into a graphical display unit operatedaccording to a known grid space, in that example, based upon seatnumber. However, that is not typically going to be the case wherechaotic systems are involved, such as coordinating a swarm of autonomousself-controlled or autonomous devices or even a strand (or individual)loose lights, for example holiday lights that have been hung in a treeor on a structure and it is desired that they self-address in order toact as a coordinated system. In such a system, it is desirable to basethe self-addressing of each on either their absolute or relativepositioning, rather just their specified numbers (e.g.: 1, 2, 3, . . . ,etc.). Alternatively, if each device in a swarm of autonomousself-controlled or autonomous devices will be fairly stably located in aspecific location and includes a chip set (like a variant of the chipset 4200 of FIG. 42) that has GPS 4234 capabilities, (or the equivalentor other variant (e.g. cellular pseudo-GPS, DGPS, GLONASS, COMPASS,Galileo, QZSS, IRNSS, Beidou, DORIS, IRNSS, etc.)) then, in some cases,the GPS resolution may be accurate enough for the specific applicationthat each device could independently self-address using its GPScoordinates. Note here that, GPS has inherent inaccuracies (GPS istypically only specified as being accurate up to about 30 feet) suchthat, in many cases, it may be desirable to first wait a predeterminedamount of time for the device to initialize itself and then average theGPS derived location information over a specified time interval in orderto establish the GPS coordinates of a given device.

Given the inherent inaccuracy of GPS, GPS is generally not accurateenough for the example of lights hung in a tree.

For such configurations, if a chip set has the ability to wirelesslylisten to a data stream and extract data from within the stream that isspecifically addressed to it (and to follow instructions within thatdata), the ability to wirelessly transmit and detect radio signals, andthe ability to wirelessly transmit feedback, then such chips sets wouldbe capable, through the techniques of computational geometry, and inparticular the concept of triangulation, determine their positionrelative to one another. As an example, variants of the chip set 4200 ofFIG. 42 could advantageously be used for such an application.

While there are numerous triangulation techniques within computationalgeometry, one suitable method that can be implemented with variants ofthe chip set 4200 of FIG. 42 is Delaunay triangulation, which isdescribed in, for example, B. Delaunay, “Sur la sphère vide. Ala mémoirede Georges Voronoï”, Bulletin de I'Académie des Sciences de I'URSS.Classe des sciences mathematiques et na, no. 6, pp. 793-800 (1934), theentirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Since then, therehave been many refinements to the technique over the years, includingimplementation of a divide and conquer paradigm to perform efficienttriangulation in any dimension, such as described in Cignoni, P.; C.Montani; R. Scopigno, “DeWall: A fast divide and conquer Delaunaytriangulation algorithm in E^(d) ”. Computer-Aided Design 30 (5),pp.333-341 (1998), which is also incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

While a full explanation of the techniques and algorithms for performingDelaunay triangulation in any dimension space can be found in at leastthe references above, for purposes of completeness, a basic overview ofthe technique using a two-dimensional example is illustrated, insimplified form, in FIG. 51A-51X with the understanding that, being aknown technique, those of ordinary skill could implement Delaunaytriangulation without a rigorous explanation being set forth herein.

FIG. 51A illustrates, in simplified form, the desired outcome of aDelaunay triangulation, which is to determine a set of triangles 5110such that no vertex point of one triangle is inside the circumcircle5120 of any other triangle. This approach is extended to 3-dimensionalspace in FIG. 51B, where the desired outcome is to determine the set ofsimplex 5130 such that no vertex point is inside the circum-hypersphere5140 of any simplex. To apply Delaunay triangulation in this context,the goal is for each chip set to be unambiguously located at a vertex ofa triangle or simplex and that location to be used by it toself-address, either directly or indirectly through application of somefurther algorithm.

FIGS. 51C-51X illustratively walks through the preliminary steps inperforming Delaunay triangulation in two dimensions according to avariant as described herein that includes chip sets 5102 arranged in anirregular two-dimensional array. For purposes of this example, a variantof the chip set 4200 of FIG. 42 with the appropriate communicationcapabilities could be used. For purposes of illustration, as an aid tounderstanding the concept, layman's language will be used, with theunderstanding that, in doing so, precision and accuracy in the approachas it would have to be implemented in practice may be lost.

As illustrated in FIG. 51C-51X, multiple chip sets 5102, indicated aspoints, with the previously described capabilities, are dispersedthroughout a two-dimension area 5100.

To initiate the Delaunay triangulation process, a single chip set 5102,labeled by box [1], is arbitrarily chosen as the starting point by amaster control unit 5104 such as described herein which is capable ofwirelessly communicating with each chip set 5102. The master controlunit 5104 could be either an external unit (such as shown), or beimplemented as a function of one or more chip set(s) 5102 within thegroup (or switching between chip sets within the group) that has (have)the capabilities to also function as a master control unit 5104.

That chip set 5102 [1], will either receive a starting address from themaster control unit 5104 or will use a pre-programmed or other initiallyspecified starting address. While the starting address could be anyvalue (e.g. the units GPS coordinates), for simplicity of explanationthe naming convention will be that the chip set name and startingaddress are the same, in this case the value, “1”.

The chip set 5102 [1] will begin broadcasting in order to find theclosest other chip set 5102 to it. There are numerous known techniquesfor determining the distance between two chip sets, such as timing theinterval between two pulses or using received signal strength, since itis known that signals decay with distance. The method used in thisexample, is for the chip set 5102 [1] to begin broadcasting a signal ata specific power level, and which includes within data of the signal,the power level, hereafter referred to as a “radio bubble”, a “radiobubble” being indicated in FIG. 51C-51X by dashed concentric circlesemanating outward from a point.

In this example, the signal chip set [1] broadcasts out at 3.2 watts is“I am chip set [1] broadcasting at 3.2 watts. Does anybody hear me?” Ifno chip set 5102 is within range then chip set [1] would increase thepower level of the broadcast, for example to now broadcast out a signalat 3.3 watts of, “I am chip set [1] broadcasting at 3.3 watts. Doesanybody hear me?” If still no chips set responds then the process couldrepeat, with chip set [1] broadcasting at higher and higher power levels(and change its associated message) until a chip set is discovered or itreceives instruction to stop, either from the master control unit 5104or based upon some pre-established criteria, for example, reaching acertain power level, elapsed time, number of tries, etc. If a secondchip set is within range, meaning that the signal it received was abovesome predetermined threshold level, it would respond back to the mastercontrol unit 5104, “I am chip set [X] and I hear chip set [1] broadcasting at 3.2 watts, what should I do next?” The value of [X] in thisexample, that the chip set uses to identify itself, could be any value,including simply some value or indicator that it is a chip set presentlywithout an address. Alternatively, a variant of the approach discussedin connection with FIG. 45C (where a reduced strength address signal4630 was received) could be used where the chip set will give itself atemporary address, which includes not only its anticipated address(based on a predetermined algorithm such as adding a constant orapplying an algorithm to the address value received, or as instructed bythe master) but also a measured distance indicator. By way of example,in this particular case, the value of “X” might be “2.3.2”, where theinteger to the left of the first decimal point indicates the presumedaddress (obtained by adding the constant “1” to the address it received)and the numbers to the right of the first decimal indicates the powerlevel as one example of a measured distance indicator. Including ameasured distance indicator is particularly helpful in the event thatmultiple units are responding. Such as, for example, where an approachinvolving timing the interval between two pulses, rather than radiobubbles, is being used to determine distance. In the case of radiobubbles, since the measured power level is already specified as beingincluded in the message of this example, it is desirable to have thenumber to the right of the first decimal be an indicator of the triggerthreshold level (or the actual calculated distance). For instance, iftwo chip sets each heard the signal at 3.2 watts, but for one of the twothe amplitude of the signal it received was only 0.1 watts, but for theother it was 0.12 watts, the one that received the signal at 0.12 wattsis presumed to not only be closer, but the power level above a thresholdcan be used to more precisely determine its distance. For simplicity ofthe remainder of the overview explanation being provided herein, onlythe numbers to the left of the decimal point will be used, withtemporary addresses being indicated with a question mark, and thepresumption that only one unit at a time will hear a broadcast at aparticular power level.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 51C, chip set [1] send out radio bubbles ofincreasing size until the closest chip set indicated as [2?] respondsback that it heard the signal. The measured power level (and thresholdlevel if supplied) can then be used to determine the distance betweenthem and is indicated by the line 5106 between those two chip sets.

The two closest chip sets to a particular chip set are special, in thatthere is no question that they will meet the criteria for Delaunaytriangulation. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 51D, the [2?] has beenchanged to [2] to indicate that the chip set [2] should use the address“2” until instructed otherwise and, that it is part of the firsttriangle. Chip set [2] is then instructed to temporarily stop listeningfor broadcasts from chip set [1] as indicated by the circle 5108 with aline drawn though it.

Continuing with FIG. 51D, chip set [1] then increases the broadcastpower (to increase the size of its radio bubbles) until the next closestchip set [3?] responds and its distance to chip set [1] is determined.Since the second closest chip set [3?] to chip set [1] is special inthat it will always complete the first triangle, the address [3?] ofthat chip set in Fid 51D has been changed in FIG. 51E to “[3]” and acircumcircle 5110 (circle whose circumference contains all three chips)of a first determined triangle 5112 has been added.

However, at this point, only the two distances indicated as straightlines from chip set [1] in FIG. 51D are known. In order to completelydetermine the triangle then the distance between chip set [2] and [3]must be determined. In order to determine the distance between chip sets[2] and [3] all of the other chip sets, except chip sets [2] and [3],are told to temporarily stop listening, as indicate by crossed-outcircles over each chip set. Next, as shown in FIG. 51E, either [2] istold to begin broadcasting until it is heard by [3] or [3] will beginbroadcasting until it is heard by [2]. Once, the distance between [2]and [3] is determined then the first triangle 5112 is completelydetermined.

Once the first triangle 5112 has been determined, as shown in FIG. 51F,the next step is to determine if there are any additional triangles thatcan be formed that meet the criteria for Delaunay triangulation thatinclude chip set [1]. To do this chip sets [2] and [3] are told totemporarily stop listening and all the other chip sets are told tolisten for and respond to a broad cast from chip set [1].

For purposes of this example, it is presumed that eventually chip set[4?] will respond and then the distance 5114 between [1] and [4?] willbe determined.

The third closest chip set [4?] is not deemed special and it may or maynot form a triangle with chip set [1] that meets the criteria forDelaunay triangulation, so it has to be tested.

Testing is illustrated in FIG. 51G and involves telling only chip setsthat form known triangles with chip set [1], which in this case is chips[1], [2], and [3], to listen for a broadcast from chip set [4?]. Sincethe nearest chip set to chip set [4?] is chip set [2] in this case, thenthe distance between [2] and [4?] is determined. However, at this pointit is still unknown whether or not a triangle made up of chip sets [1],[2], and [4?] make up a triangle 5116 that meets the criteria forDelaunay triangulation. In order to determine if that triangle 5116meets the criteria for Delaunay triangulation it must be determinedwhether the second closest chip set that is currently listening set to[4?] is chip set [1]. If it is not chip set [1] then the criteria forDelaunay triangulation will not be met.

As shown in FIG. 51H, in this case the second nearest chip set to [4?]is chip set [1] and therefore the criteria for Delaunay triangulationhas been met and so the address of [4?] has become [4] and acircumcircle 5118 of the second triangle 5116 has been indicated.

Once the second triangle 5116 has been determined, as shown in FIG. 51I,the next step is to once again to determine if there are any additionaltriangles that can be formed that meet the criteria for Delaunaytriangulation that include chip set [1]. This time chip sets [2], [3],and [4] are told to temporarily stop listening and all the other chipsets are told to listen for, and respond to a broadcast from chip set[1]. At this point, it is presumed that eventually chip set [5?] willrespond and the distance between [1] and [5?] will be determined.

This newly found chip set (as with chip set [4?]) is, once againinitially not special and may or may not form a triangle with chip set[1] that meets the criteria for Delaunay triangulation, so it too has tobe tested.

Testing of chip set [5?] involves telling only the chip sets that formknown triangles with chip set [1], which in this case is now chip sets[1], [2], [3], and [4], to listen for a broadcast from chip set [5?].

By coincidence, as shown in FIG. 51J, the nearest chip set to chip set[5?] is also chip set [2] and the distance between [2] and [5?] can bedetermined. However, it is unknown at this point whether or not thetriangle made up of chip sets [1], [2], and [5] make up a triangle thatmeets the criteria for Delaunay triangulation. In order to determine ifthe triangle meets the criteria for Delaunay triangulation, it must bedetermined whether the second closest chip set currently listening tochip set [5?] is, in fact, chip set [1]. If it is not chip set [1] thenthe criteria for Delaunay triangulation will not be met.

As shown in FIG. 51K, the second closest chip set to chip set [5?] ischip set [4], not chip set [1]. Therefore, it is not possible to form atriangle that includes chip set [1] and chip set [5?] that meets thecriteria for Delaunay triangulation.

For reference, FIG. 51L shows all of the circumcircles that includechips sets [1], [5?], and one of the other chip sets (i.e. [2], [3] &[4]). In all cases, at least one other chip set falls within theassociated circumcircles and, therefore, none of them meet the criteriafor Delaunay triangulation.

Once, it is discovered that the next closest chip set, [5?], does notform a triangle that meets the criteria for Delaunay triangulation, thesearch for additional triangles associated with chip set [1] can haltbecause it is now known that there are no more valid triangles thatinclude chip set [1] and meet the criteria for Delaunay triangulation.Thus, the next step is to pick one of the peripheral chip sets, eitherchip set [3] or chip set [4], and start the process all over (i.e. aswas done for chip set [1]). A chip set is “peripheral” if it is notincluded in more than a single triangle. It does not matter which of thechip sets, [3] or [4] is selected, but whichever one must be aperipheral chip set. In other words, chip set [2] cannot be selectedbecause it is not a peripheral point, since [2] is included in more thanone of the valid triangles. Actually, in implementation, both peripheraldirections (i.e. chip sets [3] and [4]) can (and will likely) beanalyzed simultaneously, but for the purposes of this overview, chip set[3] will arbitrarily selected.

Just as was done for chip set [1], the first step is to determine thefirst and second chip sets that are closest to chip set [3], which justso happens to be the previously established chip sets [1] and [2].However, they did not necessarily have to be. Once the special case ofthe first two chip sets is known, the next step would be to look for thethird closest chip set just as was done for chip set [1].

However, since it is already known that chip sets [1] and [2] form avalid triangle that includes chip set [3], a short cut can be taken thatspeeds up the discovery process. An example of the short cut isillustrated in FIG. 51M, in which chip sets [1] and [2] would be told totemporarily stop listening and all other chip sets would listen for abroadcast from chip set [3]. The closest chip set in this example is,once again coincidentally, chip set [5?] and the distance between chipset [3] and [5?] is determined. Since, following that determination thedistance between [3] and [5?] is known to be greater than the distancebetween chip sets [3] and [1], and also chip sets [3] and [2], it isautomatically known that chip sets [1] and [2] are the two closest chipsets to [3]. If this were not the case, for example because [5] was acloser chip than either one or both of chip set [1] or [2] then chip set[3] would use radio bubbles of increasing size as originally discussedin connection with chip set [1] to find the second closest chip sets toit, which would then form the first triangle. However, since this is notthe case, once the first triangle is determined for chip set [3], asshown in FIG. 51N, the next step is to test if it is possible to form atriangle using chip set [5?], which was just established to be the thirdclosest chip set.

Again, testing involves telling only chip sets that form known triangleswith chip set [3], which in this case is chips [1], [2], and [3] tolisten for a broadcast from chip set [5?]. The nearest chip set to chipset [5?] is chip set [2] in this case, and the distance between [2] and[5?] is determined. However, it is unknown at this point whether or notthe triangle made up of chip sets [3], [2], and [5?] make up a trianglethat meets the criteria for Delaunay triangulation. In order todetermine if it meets the criteria for Delaunay triangulation it must bedetermined whether the second closest chip set that is currentlylistening to chip set [5?] is chip set [3]. If it is not chip set [3]then the criteria for Delaunay triangulation will not be met. As shownin FIG. 510, chip set [3] was, in fact, determined to be the secondclosest chip set currently listening, and therefore the criteria forDelaunay triangulation has been met and the address of [5?] changed to[5] and a circumcircle 5120 for the third triangle is indicated.

The process likewise continues in a similar manner, as shown in FIGS.51P-51X for chip sets [6] and [7] and would t keep being repeated untilall of the triangles that meet the criteria for Delaunay triangulationhave been identified for all of the chip sets.

Once all of the Delaunay triangles have been determined for all of thechop sets, then an origin and coordinate system can be specified for thechip sets and all of the chip sets can either be interrelated basedupon, for example, their relative position or readdressed to an imposedcoordinate system position, the benefit of which will be explainedbelow.

At this point, it should be noted that, in the example of FIGS. 51C-51X,the triangulation was performed without respect to a particularcoordinate system. This is because, regardless of the rotation of thechip sets in FIG. 51A in the plane, the result of the Delaunaytriangulation would be the same. By triangulating one or more chip setsto an external source, or a single chip set to more than one externalsources, an actual physical coordinate system can be established suchthat the relationship or readdressing could reflect the actual, ratherthan the relative, position of each chip set.

Self-addressing using the actual physical or relative address can makethings simpler than simply addressing using numbers 1, 2, 3 . . . etc.and can provide advantageous benefits as well. This can be demonstratedwith reference to FIGS. 52A-52B, which illustrate, in simplified form, adisplay constructed according to the teachings herein incorporatingmultiple base unit printed circuit boards 5230-1, 5230-2, 5230-3 (onlythree of which are shown) each having multiple pairs 5240 of luminaires120 on them. For this configuration, while it is helpful to know, forexample, that the base unit 5230-1 is, within the overall display, thethird board from the left in the tube forming the second row and has,for example, address 103, and it is even more helpful to know that baseunit 5230-1 has the multi-dimensional address of row 2 column 3, it isfar more helpful to know that base unit 5230-1 spans physical locations“630” through “739” and that it has been self-addressed with thephysical address of its first luminaire, “630”, or possiblymulti-dimensionally addressed with both its starting and ending address.

The most basic reason that the physical address is then more helpful isbecause, without having to do any sort of translation, each of the baseunits 5230-1, 5230-2, 5230-3 can now capture specific data directly fromthe data steam that is related to some individual luminaire 120 in thedisplay within their address range without regard to any data for anyother luminaire on any other base unit. However, that is not all.Advantageously, even greater power can be realized when self-addressingthat incorporates the actual physical or relative address is used,because it adds the ability to track changes in base unit position.Accordingly, if a chip set on a base unit 5230-1, 5230-2, 5230-3 has theability to track changes in its position then it can dynamicallyreaddress if the position changes beyond a specified amount. This canallow it to make corrections to what it displays based upon thatposition change (i.e. that would otherwise detrimentally affect whatwould be seen on the display). For example, in FIG. 52A, there are twoshapes being displayed, a narrow vertical rectangular black bar 5210displayed by the luminaires on the top two base unit printed circuitboards 5230-1, 5230-2 and a diagonal grey bar 5220 displayed by theluminaires 120 of all three base unit printed circuit boards 5230-1,5230-2, 5230-3 of FIG. 51A, with then-unused luminaires 120 shown inwhite. In FIG. 52A, the base unit boards 5230 are all in perfectalignment and the desired display is therefore properly shown on thedisplay.

In contrast, for example due to temperature-induced expansion in thesecond row, the center printed circuit board 5230-2 has been shifted tothe right in FIG. 52B. If the printed circuit boards 5230 were tocontinue to use the exact same luminaires 120 to show the shapes as itdid in FIG. 52A, then the desired display would not be accurately shown.

Advantageously, as shown in FIG. 52B, using an approach where thecircuit boards 5230-1, 5230-2, 5230-3 know their location in spacerelative to some fixed point means that the base unit printed circuitboard 5230-2 is able to know that it has moved to the right beyond acertain threshold and can readdress such that the data goes to theluminaires 120 in the now-proper position instead of the shiftedluminaires 120 that would previously had displayed that data.

As a second example, FIG. 53 illustrates, in simplified form multiplelight strand-type lighting displays 5300, 5300′, constructed using tubesand the teachings described herein, hanging in front of a building. Atthis point, as an aside, it is worth noting that this is a prime exampleof one advantage of constructing a lighting display using the teachingsherein, it can (depending upon the particular implementation) beserviced directly from the roof 5306 or from a height just aboveentry-door 5308 height, which would be safer (and potentially lesscostly) than having to service particular parts at whatever height theywere located.

In any event, the light strand-type lighting displays 5300, 5300′ are,in all material respects, identical except one of the displays 5300′ issubject to wind buffeting and, being affixed at only the top and bottom,is shown as being subject to oscillation 5304 in between.

While the use of radio bubbles to determine position and or movementfrom an initial position may be sufficient for detecting a slow shiftover time, as in FIG. 52B, that approach is insufficient for the type oftransient and potentially rapid movement exemplified in FIG. 53.

One known method of rapidly calculating displacement of an object iswith accelerometers. Using an accelerometer, displacement of the devicecontaining the accelerometer can be calculated based on the fact thatacceleration is the time derivative of velocity, and velocity is thetime derivative of distance. Therefore, assuming the devices areequipped with triple-axis accelerometers, one can, through the processof double integration, continuously calculate positions in real space asa device is moved. Further, adding a gyroscope allows gravity to besubtracted out, and/or filtering to be performed based on expectedmovements like ignoring vertical shifts that shift the entire displayuniformly, such as due to normal seasonal temperature changes, orfiltering out any directional component that is not purely horizontalmotion in FIG. 53, can greatly increase the precision of themeasurement. Since some variants of the chip set 4200 of FIG. 42 includeaccelerometer(s) 4236 and a gyroscope 4238, they can be used in thisapplication.

Additionally or alternatively, if two accelerometers are placed at afixed distance apart, for example at opposite ends of a base unit board,then they can be used to determine rotation, eliminating the need for agyroscope 4230. Techniques for using two accelerometers, spaced a fixeddistance apart, to determine rotation are known in the art and thus neednot be described herein. Nevertheless, one example source of thatteaching can be found in Tuck, Kimberly. “Tilt sensing using linearaccelerometers.” Freescale Semiconductor Application Note AN3107 (2007),the entirety of which incorporated by reference as if fully set forthherein.

Thus, if a graphic is shown using the light strand-type lightingdisplays 5300, 5300′, and the overall image is wider than the display,then, using the techniques described herein, the oscillation of a strand5300′ would allow the displayed image to be viewed in a non-jitteringfashion, much like what would happen if one were to view a scene througha vertical slit in a piece of cloth from a nominal distance away fromthe cloth. If the vertical edge(s) of the slit were to jitter slightly,the viewed scene would still be clear to the viewer, by the sceneryvisible at the periphery of the slit might change slightly.

Yet another example of an approach for dealing with display changesbased upon the components knowing their location is illustrated, insimplified form, in FIG. 54A, which shows multiple chip sets of adisplay 54 that use wireless communication 5410 to establish theirphysical distance between one another and then use their relativelocation within the grid to self address. As a result, one chip set 5402determines, in an array that addresses from top-to-bottom andleft-to-right with address values: 1, 4, 7, 10, etc., that its addressis [4,4] and, consequently, each of the chip sets around it then addressrelative to that chip set 5402 such that they have the addresses asshown, for example, chip set 5408 would self-address with the address[4,10]. Thus, it should be understood that another advantage is thatsuch self-addressing can be performed starting with any chip set.

FIG. 54B illustrates, in simplified form, how, by using self-addressingthat inherently includes an address gap, positional changes can beaccounted for. Specifically, FIG. 54B illustrates this with reference tothree chip sets 5402, 5404, 5406 in the same row of the display 54respectively having starting self-addresses of: [4,4], [4,2], and [4,7]and presuming that each of these chip sets 5402, 5404, 5406 include anaccelerometer. For purposes of simplicity of explanation, presume thateach chip set in the display controls luminaires 120 (not shown) thatdisplay a portion of an image (which may be static like a picture ordynamic like video) initially within the 3×3 grid 5412 indicated bydashed lines and, within the data stream containing the data that wouldmake up the image, data is sent corresponding to a 3×3 grid of addressescorresponding to both the self-addressed addresses and to the addresseswithin the gaps between chip sets.

Once the initial self-addresses are established for all of the chip setsthen an accelerometer 5400 in each chip set is used thereafter todetermine any position changes. As a result, if for example, one chipset 5402 moves from location to another there is a corresponding dynamicreaddressing of the self-address such that the chip set will always beresponding to the information addressed to its current location anddisplay the information appropriate for the corresponding 3×3 grid. Assuch, with respect to that chip set 5402, in its initial position, itwould capture data from the data stream for the portion of the displaycorresponding to grid locations:

-   -   (3,3), (3,4), (3,5)    -   (4,3), (4,4), (4,5)    -   (5,3), (5,4), (5,5)

However, if the chip set 5402 were to shift to the left beyond a certainthreshold amount, its new position 5414 would result in self-addressingto a new address [4,3] and begin capturing data for the portion of theimage corresponding to the 3×3 grid for the portion of the displaycorresponding to grid locations:

-   -   (3,2), (3,3), (3,4)    -   (4,2), (4,3), (4,4)    -   (5,2), (5,3), (5,4)

Likewise, if the chip set 5402 were to shift to diagonally from itsoriginal position, or from its left-shifted position up, beyond acertain threshold amount, its new position 5416 would now self-addressto a new address [3,3] and begin capturing data for the portion of theimage corresponding to the 2×3 grid (because it is near the upper edgeof the display 54) for the portion of the display corresponding to gridlocations:

-   -   (2,2), (2,3), (2,4)    -   (3,2), (3,3), (3,4)    -   (4,2), (4,3), (4,4)

As should now be appreciated, the same process would occur if the chipset moved right to a new position to the right 5418, then to either aposition 5420 further to the right or to a position 5422 that is on adown and right diagonal from the initial position or below the firstright position 5418.

At this point it should be noted that the example has presumed a casewhere all of the other chip sets (i.e. 5404, 5406, 5408, etc.) of thedisplay, or in a common tube shifted homogeneously and the 3×3 gridswere non-overlapping. However, advantageously, if the chip sets (forexample a variant of chip set 4200 of FIG. 42) include appropriatechip-to-chip communication and programming, then the chip sets couldperiodically poll their nearest neighbors for their addresses and,according to a specified protocol, if the addresses of two adjacent chipsets result in part of their display areas being overlapping, one of thetwo can intelligently disregard data for the overlapping area such thatproper display registration is maintained.

This aspect will be discussed with brief reference back to the flag-typedisplay 3000 of FIG. 30A. With such a display 3000, it should berecognized that, if the tubes are not rigidly connected togetherwidth-wise, it could be irregularly undulating in space. Using theforegoing teachings, it is possible to create such a display 3000 thatpresented a consistent image (or image stream) when viewed from aparticular distance and perspective angle relative to the display 3000.This is discussed with reference to FIGS. 55A-55D, which illustrate, insimplified form, image correction of a moving display constructedaccording to the teachings herein.

Specifically, FIG. 55A illustrates, in simplified form, an enlargedsection of the flag-type display 3000 of FIG. 30A. FIG. 55B illustrates,in simplified form, is a side view of that flag-type display 3000 in itsnormal position 5500, which is simply freely hanging vertically. FIG.55C illustrates, in simplified form, the flag-type display 3000 after ithas been temporarily blown to a new position 5502 by the wind.

FIG. 55D illustrates, in simplified form, how the shift from oneposition 5500 to another 5502 can be handle in the manner described inconnection with FIG. 54B. This is shown in FIG. 55D, wherein theflag-type display 3000 includes base units with controllers that canself-address relative to a fixed point and is designed such that thefixed point is a position at some distance 5510 and particular angularperspective 550, and the image that will be displayed is optimized sothat the entire image 5530 is visible from that distance andperspective.

Accordingly, by having base units in the display 3000 that readdress astheir position changes due to the wind, a truncated version 5532 of theimage 5530 would be visible from the fixed point as the new view 5522instead of a distorted/compressed image 5534 that might otherwise beseen from that fixed point. In order to perform image correction, thethree-dimensional changes in position are tracked by the base units, forexample, as described above in order to correct the image such that anuncompressed and undistorted image is always displayed on atwo-dimensional grid 5540, corresponding to the normal position 5500 ofthen display, when viewed from that distance 5510 and angularperspective 5500.

As such, when viewed from that point, as the display 3000 moves back andforth in the wind, the image will not appear to move, but the amount ofthe image shown at bottom of the display will simply move up and down(i.e. be truncated or “obscured” to varying degrees) rather than thewhole image becoming compressed and distorted.

Moreover, this technique for correcting a graphical display back to atwo-dimensional grid when viewed from a particular distance andperspective is exactly the same technique that can be used todynamically correct the image produced by the previously mentionedstrand of lights hung in a tree that is being blown in the wind.

A further example of application of three-dimensional dynamicself-addressing would be the application involving attendees at aconcert. Recall that approach used independent self-addressing to turnsmart phones in the venue into a single graphical display based upon afixed position involving, for example, the person's seat number as theself-address. However, if the person changes position betweensitting/standing, are particularly tall or short, raises their phonehigh above their head, or moves their phone back and forth swaying tothe music, either alone or along with others nearby, simply using seatmight number might not be sufficient to create the desired display in anundistorted way. Again, using the teachings herein regardingthree-dimensional dynamic self-addressing, those situations andpositional changes can be accounted for to varying degrees, dependingupon the particular device each individual has and its capabilities.

FIG. 56 illustrates, in simplified form, an example of a concert venue56 configured to take advantage of the teachings herein. As shown, thevenue 56 has both seating areas 5600 and non-seating areas 5610, whichmay be aisles or areas, where attendees with general admission ticketscan be located, from which the concert can be viewed. Presuming thatmost of the attendees have smart phones 5620 that internally incorporatepositioning capabilities of some form (e.g. accelerometers, GPS, etc.),that they have an appropriate application running on the phone that hasstored, or can receive display image data, and are located throughoutthe seating areas 5600. In addition, presume that the mesh 5630overlaying the seating areas 5600 represents the area for the entiredesired three-dimensional graphical display 5630 and is broken up intoappropriately addressed sub grids. Depending upon the particularimplementation, smart phone(s) and image, data for the entire mesh orsome portion thereof (perhaps based upon ticketed seat location) couldbe, for example, pre-loaded prior to the concert, it could beautomatically downloaded following entry into the concert venue, itcould be downloaded once the user triggers a position identificationaction or following self-addressing, it could be dynamically receivedduring the concert.

Rather than the smart phones 5620 triangulating their position relativeto one another, which is possible, in actual practice it may be simplerfor the event goers to aim the smart phones camera at a known target5640, equipped with indicators 5650 and situated in known locations, andto triangulate the exact physical location of each smart phone 5620within the venue 56 and respectively use, a value representing each'slocation relative to the target 5640 as the starting self-address. Asshould already be understood from the preceding examples, the use oftriangulation is a much more robust form of independent self-addressingthan simply using the seat number. Additionally, the venue would have amaster control unit 5660 that would be configured to functionallyinteract with the application on the smart phones, according to theteachings herein.

Thus, once the initial self-address had been determined by each of thesmart phones, the accelerometers and other position indicators withineach smart phone would take over and, working in conjunction with theapplication as the smart phone was moved within different cell locationswithin the three-dimensional graphical display 5630, the smart phoneswould dynamically readdress themselves using their new physicallocation. Therefore, regardless of movement of a particular smart phone,that smart phone would always be able to display the proper graphicinformation for it as instructed by master control unit 5660.Advantageously, by applying the teachings herein, even if the movementwas such that the potential error in determining location was above somepredetermined threshold, such as if an attendee moves to a new section,leaves the seating area to go to the bathroom and then returns, orsimply wanders to a non seating area to get a better view, wherever theyare in the venue, their phone could dynamically adjust the display ofdata to properly correspond to the new or changing location (if slowenough) by automatically re-self-addressing or following some action bythe user in response to a prompt, for example, a message whereby theuser is instructed to retarget from their new location using one of thetargets 5640 in the venue.

Further refinements of dynamic readdressing within the concert displayinclude not only tracking displacement but also orientation usinginformation from the smart phones gyroscope so that, unless the displayof the smart phone is pointed in the general direction of the stage,based upon some pre-established criteria, then the display would not beshown (e.g. it could temporarily go dark). For example, if the concertgoer turned around to see what was behind them, as it would not bedesirable for the people behind them to see that person's display, asthey would ideally be trying to view the display on, for example, theopposite side of the arena.

The use of independent self-addressing, where a smart phone, baseunit/chip set is able to independently determine its physical location,such as in the concert venue example just discussed, it should now berecognized, is incredibly powerful, particularly when paired withmulti-dimensional self-addressing, where one dimension is the physicaladdress and another dimension is the self-address generated from being aknown part of the system, referred to herein as “complexself-addressing”. This pairing makes applications possible that gobeyond mere graphical displays, for example, as shown in FIG. 57, whichillustrates, in simplified form, an example application of complexself-addressing. As shown in FIG. 57, there are a plurality of units 57,57′, 57″ that have functional capabilities consistent with the teachingsherein and, at the very least could correspond to the functions of baseunits described herein that include a variant of the chip set 4200 ofFIG. 42. The chip sets 57, 57′, and 57″ are assumed to be the same andhave the same capabilities, however, they will perform differentfunctions based upon the signals that they are able to receive and whatthey are connected to. In this particular case, it is presumed thatinstructions and/or data (hereafter an “instruction set”) will originatefrom a remote source 5702, for example a computer or server, and betransmitted via a communication network (which may be the internet, acellular network, or some other source (the particular source beingunimportant to understanding these teachings)) wirelessly. In thisexample, it is desired that the remote source 5702 be able control,through the instructions set 5710, an AD/TV display 5700 within a belowground transit system that cannot directly receive the instruction set5710. However, through radio bubbles, or other wireless (or wired)communications techniques, the unit 57″ is presumed able to communicatewith a series of units 57′, using a repeated signal 5720, but is assumedto not be able to directly communicate with a unit 57 that can receivethe instruction set 5710 from the source 5702, nor is it assumed to beable to determine its physical location through using GPS or othermethods of physical location determination, but it is assumed that atleast one unit 57′ is able to communicate with the unit 57 that receivesthe instruction set 5710 from the source 5702 using the repeated signal5720 and at least one unit 57′ is able to communicate with thedestination unit 57″ using repeated signal 5720. Additionally, it isalso assumed that none of the units 57′ are able to determine theirphysical location through using GPS or other methods of physicallocation determination.

Since the unit 57 is the only chip set that can both receive theinstruction set 5710 and determine its physical location using GPS orother methods of physical location determination it will independentlyself-address, for example, using its physical coordinates based on startup instructions or based on instructions provided within the instructionset 5710.

As sent, the instruction set 5710 is intended for the unit 57″ connectedto the AD/TV display 5700 to provide image information that the AD/TVdisplay 5700 is intended to show. This will initially involve abroadcast from the source 5702 that is looking for a chip set with anindependent self-address located in the vicinity of a physical locationthat is connected to the AD/TV display 5700. Since the only unit 57″that fits the requirement cannot receive the signal because it isunderground, there will be no response. The source 5702 will thenbroadcast that it is looking for a unit in the vicinity of that locationthat is able to act as a repeater, and is able to connect to one or moreother units in the vicinity.

In this particular example, a single unit 57 would be the only one torespond, by providing a feedback transmission 5730 back to the source,which includes its physical location. As an aside, if more than one unitresponded to the source 5702, then the source 5702 could select the mostappropriate unit, for example, by using the physical location data oraccording to some protocol whereby all would try to establish aconnection to the ultimate destination as described below and, accordingto some criteria, for example, the first one to do so, the one that doesso with the fewest “hops” or lowest latency, etc.

Returning to the example, since only one unit 57 responds to the source5702, that unit 57 would then be instructed to act as a master controlunit as described herein and to begin the process of creating aself-addressed communication network to a unit that is connected to theAD/TV display 5700 using a second dimensional address, assuming that theindependent self-address is the first dimension. The units 57′ wouldthen be self-addressed, for example, using the protocol in FIG. 44A-44F(or its equivalent) or through triangulation or other techniques ofcomputational geometry in order to establish a communication path to theunit 57″, which is connected to AD/TV display 5700.

As another aside, it is to be noted that, in a situation like the onedescribed, in establishing a connection to the end point, it may benecessary to have the units invoke a “transferring master control”procedure since a single master control unit may not be able to reachall the way to the intended destination. In such a case, once the firstmaster control unit reaches out as far as it can go and has still notdiscovered the intended destination unit at the end point, that mastercontrol unit would then instruct one or more of the units it haddiscovered to take over the role of a master control unit and tocontinue to build a self-addressing communication network looking forthe destination unit at the end point (which will typically, althoughnot necessarily, transfer all of the information to the secondary mastercontrol unit regarding the unit(s) that the first master control unithad already discovered). The self-addressing of this secondary mastercontrol unit could either be a continuation of the current dimensionalself-addressing or involve self-addressing on a new dimension. Once thenew master control unit has either discovered the intended destinationunit at the end point or reached the end of the line without success,then the secondary master control unit would communicate back to theoriginal master control unit all of the resulting information regardingfurther units it discovered (or, in aggregate, all of the informationfor all discovered units it had, even if some were transferred to it bya master control unit). The original master control unit would theneither take further action by appointing another secondary mastercontrol unit or provide feedback transmission 5730 back to the source5702 and wait for additional instructions.

Once the intended destination unit at the end point 57″ has beendiscovered and self-addressed, an indication of that fact, in somefashion, will be transmitted back to the master control unit(potentially through a secondary master control unit, or a furtherremoved tertiary, etc. master control unit) using a repeated signal 5720transferred from the end unit 57″ via each intermediate unit 57′ to theinitial unit 57. Once that initial unit 57 receives the indication, thenit will transfer the address information of the end unit 57″ back to thesource as a feedback transmission 5730. In other words, once thishappens, it is the simple equivalent of directing data to a specificbase unit within a specific tube of a display as described above.

Thus, when the instruction set 5710 is directed to the unit 57″associated with the display 5700, it can simply say to the unit with aphysical dimension address that corresponds to that previously storedfor the unit 57, to please repeat the following instructions to the chipset at the network dimension address that corresponds to the previouslydetermined address for the end point unit 57″ (which may include severalother dimensional addresses if secondary master control units or greaterrelationships were utilized).

It should now be noted that the use of multi-dimensional addressing notonly allows a message to be efficiently repeated in order to be passedonto their intended target, but it also allows intervening base units tobe replaced, for example in the event of a failure, relocation of aunit, or some other action, without any knowledge of any other base unitwith which it may interact. The new or relocated unit can then beself-addressed using information provided by its neighbors and,therefore, the system can begin working (or, to the extent selfaddressing can establish an alternate path through the techniquesdescribed herein, will continue to work) without any special addresssetting effort or knowledge of the location(s) and/or address(es) ofnearby base units on the part of the technician installing it.

It should also be noted that, in the example of FIG. 57, the units 57′may or may not be acting as simply a repeater. They could, for example,have also had their own AD/TV display 5700 attached to them and beenpreviously self-addressed. In this circumstance the instructions tocreate the communication network would have been to look for “anun-addressed” unit that is connected to the AD/TV display 5700, ratherthan simply “a” unit that is connected to the AD/TV display 5700.

It should be further noted that the display itself 5700 could be adisplay constructed and/or self-addressed according to then teachingsherein, or it could be a conventional display operating in aconventional manner.

In this example, the units 57, 57′, and 57″ are assumed to be purelyreactionary (i.e. they cannot initiate the discovery process. However,that is not necessarily the case. With some implementations, the unitscould be “smart” and the self-addressing process could work in reverse.For example, upon power up, one unit 57″ could recognize that it isconnected to AD/TV display 5700 and know that it is supposed tocommunicate with a source 5702 using a feedback transmission 5730, butits attempts prove to be unsuccessful. It would then initiate a protocolwhereby it will try to form a communication network back to the desiredsource 5702. To do so, it would broadcast out using a repeater signal5720 that it is a currently unaddressed chip set, since it was not evenable to independently self-address, and that it is looking to join acommunication network that has the ability to communicate, using afeedback transmission 5730, back to the source 5702 and, thereby,receive an instruction set 5710 directed to it. The first unit 57′ thatit discovered may already be a part of a communication network that hasthe appropriate capabilities, in which case the initiating unit 57″ atthe display 5700 would become addressed as part of that communicationnetwork.

However, if the first unit 57′ discovered was not already a part of thenetwork, then it could either (a) begin to form a self-addressedcommunication network with those units 57′ in close proximity to it, or(b) try to reach out farther and farther until it found one that wasalready in a communication network connected to the source 5702.

In implementations using the reverse process, the most common protocolis expected to be to try to establish a self-address by first using themost direct means of communication available, which is wiredcommunication, if available. If wired communication is not availablethen to proceed up the line and try wireless transmitter receiver pairsand if still unsuccessful to use two-way wireless communication channel.However, any other protocol appropriate for the particular applicationand implementation can be used, the particular protocol or hierarchybeing unimportant to understanding the teachings herein.

It should now be understood that independent self-addressing, especiallywhen paired with a self-addressing repeater communication network is apowerful tool that can have applications and be extended beyond displaytechnology.

Using a unit employing, for example, the chip set 4200 of FIG. 42 as auniversal self-addressing unit capable of performing the functions of amaster, slave, and/or repeater according to the teachings herein,diverse non-display-related networks can advantageously be created on anad hoc basis.

One representative example application is monitoring. FIG. 58Aillustrates, in simplified form, an independent self-addressing “geo”stick 5800 configured for self-addressing, and communicating with amaster control unit, according to teachings herein that can monitor for,for example, seismic, weather, climate or other activity. FIG. 58Billustrates, in simplified form, internal sensors 5802, 5804 of the geostick 5800, and FIG. 58C illustrates a solar array 5806, on the cap ofthe geo stick 5800 that, in this example, allows it to be self-powered.In use, multiple geo sticks 5800 are placed into the ground at variouslocations and take readings using its sensors 5802, 5804, 5808 (e.g.motion, temperature, humidity and/or other sensors) through various I/Ochannels and report back to a master control unit sensor-measuredrelated to seismic activity or electrical discharge indicative of anearthquake or other weather or climate phenomena.

FIGS. 59A-59B illustrate, in simplified form, another exampleapplication for monitoring remote equipment according to the teachingsherein. As shown in FIG. 59A, the remote equipment shelter can beconfigured with the chip set 4200 to take local readings relating to theequipment there and, as shown in FIG. 59B, using self-addressingaccording to the teachings herein to discover other remote equipment inthe field that may be suitably equipped with another chip set 4200 andreport resulting monitoring information back to a master control unit.Advantageously, as new equipment is deployed or equipment is taken offline, goes down or is moved, through implementation of self-addressingaccording to the teachings herein, monitoring can adaptively continue.

Other applications of the self-address techniques discussed includethose represented in FIG. 60-FIG. 62, which also use chip set 42 of FIG.42 as a universal self-addressing unit capable of performing thefunctions of a master, slave, and/or repeater.

FIG. 60 illustrates, in simplified form, yet another application of theteachings herein that allows for more simplified 3D image capture ofobjects 6002, 6004. With this application, multiple cameras 6000,incorporating appropriate capabilities as described for variants herein,for example, one variant of chip set 4200 of FIG. 42, are deployed aboutthe object 6002 to be imaged and wirelessly self-addressed using eithertheir physical or relational address to one another. Advantageously, dueto the self-addressing, the cameras can be deployed by relativelyunskilled technicians without rigorous consideration of the terrain. Thecameras 6000 take synchronized pictures based upon instructions of amaster control unit (which may be either one of the chip sets 4200 in acamera (as shown) or separate master control unit located somewherenearby (not shown). By using the teachings herein, knowing the exactlocation of the camera is possible and dynamically re-addressing due toany small changes in position that occur, the photographs taken couldthen be used for creating three-dimensional images of the objects in thephotographs. Moreover, since the cameras can re-self-address, it is evenpossible to do this with only two cameras, by having one remain in afixed location and having the other self-address and take new pictureseach time it is moved. Still further, this approach allows for 3Dimaging of objects in areas that are not readily accessible for thatpurpose, for example, in relatively inaccessible rugged terrain. In sucha case, the cameras could be placed at locations about the object to beimaged by simply lowering them, for example using a helicopter, topoints where they can be steady. Then, they can be instructed toself-address, take pictures and be removed or moved to a new location.

FIG. 61 illustrates, in simplified form, essentially a reversal of theprocess of FIG. 60. As shown in FIG. 61, instead of multiple cameras,multiple projectors 6100 that incorporate wireless self-addressingtechnology and techniques as described herein use either their physicalor relational address to one another and produce a synchronized display6104 through the instructions of a master control unit (which, as in theprevious examples) may be an integral part of the capabilities 6102 of aprojector 6100 or it may be a separately located master control unit asdescribed herein (not shown). Alternatively, the same graphical displaycould have been created by a bank of monitors or TVs that were allwirelessly self-addressed using either their physical or relationaladdress to one another in order to produce a synchronized display.

FIG. 62 illustrates, in simplified form, a restaurant 6200 bringingtogether many of the teachings herein and/or extensions thereof In FIG.62, an external LED Display Board 6202, constructed using one of thevariants herein, is independently self-addressed using its GPS or otherphysical positioning device capabilit(y/ies) and is configured to beable to wirelessly receive instructions from a regional headquartersregarding what to display. In addition, it not only determines its owndisplay, it is also configured to act as a repeater for the rest of thecontrol units in close proximity to it and, in this case, to otherbranches of the same restaurant within range.

The rest of the control units of the restaurant 6200 include outdoordigital menu boards 6204 that are both self-addressed, as part of thesystem controlled by the instructions repeated by the LED Display Board6202, and are self-addressed on a separate dimension to differentiateamong themselves. Inside the restaurant there is a Digital Menu DisplayGroup 6206, that can similarly be self-addressed and receiveinstructions repeated by the LED Display Board 6202, and are alsoself-addressed on a separate dimension, presumably based upon eithertheir physical or relative location to one another, so that a set ofimages (static or dynamic) appear to periodically rotate through thedisplays in round-robin fashion. Finally, there are two independentDigital Advertisement Displays 6208 located in the restaurant 6200,which are also self-addressed but may or may not be displaying contentspecific to that restaurant 6200, for example, one or more may be paidadvertising from a related partner or local community-relatedinformation provided by the local camber of commerce, town hall orschool system.

Note here that, while the LED Display Board 6202 was specified as therepeater, advantageously, if one (or more) of the digital menu boards6204, a display the Digital Menu Display Group 6206, and/or one or moreof the Digital Advertisement Displays 6208 contained suitable controlunit capabilities, any of those control units capable of wirelesslyreceiving the instructions from the regional headquarters could havefunctioned as a repeater. Alternatively, with suitable capabilitiespresumably all of the units could have independently received theirrespective instructions without the need for a repeater.

According to an atypical variant approach to the techniques describedherein different control units can be allowed to self-address with thesame address value. This will allow a subset of the control units to actin “party line” fashion. In this manner, if it is known that it willalways be desired that such a subset will always need to receive thesame data a single address could be used to do so instead of redundantlysending the same data to each's discrete address. Alternatively, oradditionally, if there was some need to communicate with only one, iffeedback from each is separate and two way, a simple command could besent via the feedback line to specific units to “ignore” informationaddressed to them and those that did not receive the “ignore” commandwould receive the data. Depending upon the particular implementation,the feedback line could then again be used to stop the ignoring or theunits could be placed in a state whereby receipt of an address to themfollowing the “ignore” command would un-set the ignore, meaning thatunit it would not see the packet addressed to it that un-set the ignore,but would see each thereafter again.

Finally, it is to be understood that various different variants of theinvention, including representative embodiments and extensions have beenpresented to assist in understanding the invention. It should beunderstood that such implementations are not to be consideredlimitations on either the invention or equivalents except to the extentthey are expressly in the claims. It should therefore be understoodthat, for the convenience of the reader, the above description has onlyfocused on a representative sample of all possible embodiments, a samplethat teaches the principles of the invention. The description has notattempted to exhaustively enumerate all possible permutations,combinations or variations of the invention, since others willnecessarily arise out of combining aspects of different variantsdescribed herein to form new variants, through the use of particularhardware or software, or through specific types of applications in whichthe invention can be used. That alternate embodiments may not have beenpresented for a specific portion of the description, or that furtherundescribed alternate or variant embodiments may be available for aportion of the invention, is not to be considered a disclaimer of thosealternate or variant embodiments to the extent they also incorporate theminimum essential aspects of the invention, as claimed in the appendedclaims, or an equivalent thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A visual display method comprising: storing, in multiple portable display units, visual information to individually be displayed by each of the multiple portable display units located within a venue in response to instructions broadcast wirelessly for receipt by at least some of the multiple portable display units within the venue; establishing, for each portable display unit within the venue, a first ad hoc address based upon each portable display unit's physical location; and wirelessly broadcasting instructions for receipt by the portable display units instructing at least some or the multiple portable display units to display a specific portion of the visual information associated with their respective first ad hoc addresses, so that each of the multiple portable display units will display their specific portions of the visual information associated with their ad hoc addresses as specified by the broadcast instructions.
 2. The visual display method of claim 1, wherein: the visual information to be displayed by the multiple portable display units includes image components associated with each of at least a first and second frame number, and the broadcasting the instructions comprises sending synchronization pulses that will instruct a portable display unit at a specified first ad hoc address to display a particular image component associated with one of either the first or second frame number.
 3. The visual display method of claim 2, wherein: the instructions identify one of either the first or second frame number for each of the multiple portable display units.
 4. The visual display method of claim 2, wherein the instructions indicate that the image components associated with each of first and second frame numbers are to be displayed in sequential order; and the method further comprises: sending to at least one particular first ad hoc address, a first synchronization pulse followed by a second synchronization pulse, such that the portable display unit corresponding to the at least one particular ad hoc address will display the image component associated with the first frame in response to the first synchronization pulse and the image component associated with the second frame in response to the second synchronization pulse.
 5. The visual display method of claim 1, wherein: the physical locations correspond to a known grid space at the venue, and wherein the establishing comprises using multi-dimensional addressing to establish the first ad hoc address.
 6. The visual display method of claim 1, wherein: the establishing comprises automatically receiving each portable display unit's physical position.
 7. The visual display method of claim, 1 wherein: the establishing comprises prompting for input of physical locations into the portable display units.
 8. The visual display method of claim, 1 wherein the method further comprises: causing at least some of the portable display units to perform triangulation of location.
 9. The visual display method of claim, 8 wherein: the triangulation is performed by an individual portable display unit by triangulating with other portable display units.
 10. The visual display method of claim, 8 wherein: the triangulation is performed by an individual portable display unit by triangulating to a known target with in the venue.
 11. The visual display method of claim, 1 further comprising: causing, using multi-dimensional addressing, the first ad hoc address of an individual portable display unit to change to a second ad hoc address based upon a change in the physical location of the individual portable display unit.
 12. The visual display method of claim, 11 wherein the method further comprises: receiving an indication of the change in the physical location of the individual portable display unit, the change having been determined by the individual portable display unit using one or more position indicators within the individual portable display unit.
 13. The visual display method of claim, 12 wherein: the one or more position indicators comprise at least one of an accelerometer or a gyroscope.
 14. The visual display method of claim, 11 the method further comprises: receiving an indication of the change in the physical location of the individual portable display unit, the change having been determined by the individual portable display unit through use of triangulation.
 15. The visual display method of claim 14, wherein the triangulation includes: triangulating with at least some other portable display units within the venue.
 16. The visual display method of claim 14, wherein the triangulation includes: triangulating to a known target within the venue.
 17. The visual display method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: receiving an indication of the change in the physical location of the individual portable display unit, the change having been identified based upon physical input from the user.
 18. The visual display method of claim 1, wherein: the specific portions of the visual information associated with the ad hoc address for a given portable display unit is based upon a direction of orientation of the portable display unit.
 19. The visual display method of claim 1, wherein: the portable display unit is a smart phone.
 20. The visual display method of claim 1, wherein: once the first ad hoc address is established for an individual portable display unit, the specific portions of the visual information to be subsequently displayed by the individual portable display unit will be based upon dynamic readdressing to subsequent ad hoc addresses that reflect position changes of the individual portable display unit beyond a threshold amount. 